The US macroeconomic outlook remains, as Robert Rubin, former US Treasury secretary, put it recently, “highly uncertain”. Mr Rubin was speaking ahead of the release of strong jobs statistics that showed the US created 110,000 jobs in September, and 89,000 in August – not the minus 4,000 in August as previously estimated. Nonetheless, his observation remains valid even now.

Unquestionably, the resilience of the labour market thus far is reassuring. Sustained income growth suggests consumer spending is unlikely to retrench sharply. It also suggests that companies have not panicked in the face of credit market turmoil.