The U-shaped recovery in the U.S. means the economic free-fall has been arrested, but no strong climb back up to growth has yet begun.

FORBES: Magazine Article

So instead Mr Darling will point to the better than expected borrowing figures, the gradual fall in unemployment and the first tentative signs of recovery - to argue that the government is slowly but surely turning the economy around.

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Without such intervention net new mortgage lending - gross new home loans minus repayments and redemptions - would fall below zero in 2009 and see only a modest recovery in 2010, he said.

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The recovery was "likely to be relatively short-lived as exports start to fall next year, " said Peter Morgan, chief economist at HSBC Securities in Tokyo.

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The gold and silver miners such as Silver Wheaton (SLW), Barrick Gold (ABX), and Newmont Mining (NEM) followed the precious metals in the fall but managed to stage only a weak recovery in a strong contrast to the big up-move in gold.

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Now markets react to news about companies - so what was the disastrous data that caused the sharp fall and what new information has caused the subsequent recovery?

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