When it said recently it expected the UK economy to shrink slightly in the first quarter of 2012, I did wonder whether the downbeat prediction would turn out to be a counter-indicator - a sign that we had definitely avoided a double dip.

BBC: Britain's zig-zag economy

With every day bringing news of more suits and counter-suits in courts around the world, there is no sign of peace breaking out in the patent wars.

BBC: Do the patent wars threaten innovation?

The bulls will counter that, at the first sign of serious weakness, the Federal Reserve would engineer a collapse in mortgage-borrowing costs.

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