And China increasingly the engine of global growth appears poised for a soft landing, says Credit Suisse.

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Banking conditions varied, with some districts noting soft or decreased overall loan demand, while credit standards remained tight in most reporting Districts.

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If you look elsewhere, however, the ice cream annals credit Tom Carvel as the accidental creator of soft serve.

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Mr Hashimoto outlined a few measures to alleviate regional distress cheaper soft loans for infrastructure projects, a big export-credit insurance facility, and training in Japan for 20, 000 South-East Asians.

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Worse-than-expected growth in the U.S. and euro zone or disorderly adjustments in the Chinese housing and credit markets remain the two biggest downside risks to a benign soft-landing at this point.

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Fifth, they cannot be seen as taking a biased approach to sovereign debt risks, a hard stance on Europe (downgrading the one country after another) and a soft on the US. Already, a number of European countries are pushing for the creation of European credit agencies that would threaten the credit agency oligopoly.

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