Outlook is not all doom and gloom

The prospect of military action by America and Britain has caused world indices to zigzag to new lows recently as nervous investors have traded billions of shares. Not surprisingly, financial markets have had plenty of nerve-racking days since the appalling attacks on the US and we are likely to see more. Until recently, commentators were divided over whether the US economy would fall into recession. US consumer spending had held up relatively well amid the economic downturn and people were hoping this would pull the economy through. However, there were signs in August that consumers we...