This is clear from the performance of the commercial-paper market, another short-term asset class that rarely hits the headlines, where rates suddenly hit six-year highs last week.

ECONOMIST: The crisis in the debt markets

The aircraftmakers' confidence about the emerging world is based on what appears to be an iron law of aviation: rising numbers of urban middle-class people will mean rising demand for air travel, whatever short-term blips the economy suffers.

ECONOMIST: Business travel

And the fact that the short-term bipartisan compromise passed by almost the entire Senate is the only option to ensure that middle-class families are not hit with a tax hike in 10 days and gives both sides the time needed to work out a full-year solution.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing