Investors are trying to assess the extent to which the slowdown in the US economy will lead to a broader global downturn. This week’s data releases could provide further evidence as to why concerns for the outlook for 2007 are rising.

The continuing US property market slowdown will be reflected in Monday’s existing home sales data, expected to fall from 6.33m in July to 6.20m in August. New homes sales for August on Wednesday are expected to decline from 1.07m in July to 1.05m.