That American recession

Hopes that the US economy is more resilient than feared have risen after two key manufacturing barometers registered increases.

Orders for durable goods - costly items such as cars and fridges - rose by 1.3pc to a seasonally adjusted $219.3bn in July, the second consecutive rise.

This rather shows to me the value of benign neglect in attempts to manage an economy.

What has happened in recent years is that the dollar has lost value against other currencies. No one deliberately set out to do this, far from it. Many have been decrying the event in fact.

The result however has been that imports into the US have become more expensive, exports from less so. Thus there is more demand for US manufactured goods, with the effects we see in that quote.

Markets beat planners once again, eh?