In early March, Las Savell, a 73-year-old jeweller in Memphis, Tennessee, decided it was time to fight back against the slowing US economy. He changed the black- and-white sign that attracts customers to his small well-established store in the artsy, diverse neighbourhood of Midtown to declare: “We refuse to participate in a recession.”

Two months later Mr Savell’s hopes of defying economic reality seem to be falling flat. He complains that business is “a little slow”, saying that his customers, who include many lower- and middle-income residents, are scaling back on large purchases and bringing in more old jewellery for repair instead.