Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson

Anatole Kaletsky
The Times of London

You may not have noticed it if you get most of your economic information from media headlines, but there were some pretty important events in the world economy last week – certainly more important than the Pre-Budget Report and fatuous arguments about public borrowing and taxes under the next-government-but-one in post-2015 Britain.

Share prices on Wall Street enjoyed their biggest five-day gain since the 25 per cent one-week surge that ended the 1932 bear market; US mortgage costs fell by the largest amount in living memory; and the traditional start of holiday sales was much stronger than expected, with one Wal-Mart employee tragically killed in a rush of shoppers at the Thanksgiving sales.

In Britain, sterling jumped by almost 4 per cent against the euro and the pace of house price declines diminished significantly in October, while Selfridges and PizzaExpress, two high street brands more important (and better managed) than Woolworths, MFI or Curry's, announced record profits.

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