Data showing UK inflation has exceeded its required range for 40 of the last 49 months might suggest our home market is perking up.
Remember when all investors had to worry about was the possibility of a double-dip recession next year? Those times seem like the simple, innocent days of spring compared with the icy scenarios now evolving.
It seems lost in the mists of market meltdown now, but hedge funds were widely blamed at the start of the financial crisis for practices that triggered the collapse.
Uncertainty, volatility and risk aversion continue to dominate investor sentiment in most markets.