Investors appear to be regaining their appetites and buying equities again, believing that the darkest days of the market downturn are over. The falling price of gold, a short-lived rally in US government bond yields and news that US job losses were fewer than expected, acted as the prompts for their optimism.

And, this week, as the FTSE 100 rose to a four-month high and Wall Street reported mixed results, US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson, went as far as to say the worst of the credit crisis had passed.