Revision

1. Emerging economies already buy over half of all motor vehicles (up from only 20% in 2000), and account for four-fifths of mobile-phone contracts.

2. The economic picture throughout Europe still looks very gloomy, and in fact is getting even gloomier, with recession continuing across the continent and unemployment continuing to rise.

3. While the yuan has barely risen against the dollar since July, the dollar itself has been strong.

4. Morgan Stanly, an investment bank, says that manufacturing is on the verge of recession, but this accounts for only one-fifth of total euro-area output.

5. With inflation low and the economy stalling, the Fed has little to fear from a further rate cut.

6. “Imports are not likely to keep rising as quickly as they have in recent months, while exports should continue to improve,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics.

7. Consumer spending, which accounts for two thirds of GDP, continues to rise, and is on the course for real year-on-year growth in the first quarter of over 3%.

8. Slower growth in China is dampening commodity prices, hitting exporters in Latin America/

9. The recent data have raised some worries that perhaps growth is now decelerating much more than planned. The signs include a contraction in manufacturing activity, a slowing in consumer spending, a rise in claims for unemployment benefit and a number of prominent companies lowering earnings forecasts and capital-spending plans.

10. In some parts of the country the downturn has led to recession-like conditions, with unemployment swelling deep into double digit.

11. Capacity utilization is likely to have significantly increased again in the third quarter, which – together with jobs growth – signals a continuation of higher growth rates.

12. While a weakening exchange rate is welcome news for UK exporters who have been struggling to hang on to foreign markets, it raises the cost of raw material and fuel imports, threatening higher inflation.

13. Since the end of last summer, automakers have been slashing vehicle output to slow the pace of inventory accumulation – accounting for a significant part of the slowdown in overall economic growth.

14. Although demand for oil is waning, stocks of the commodity in the US are now at a 25-year low, meaning that there is unlikely to be a substantial drop in demand even if economic weakness continues.