Issue Of The Week: Springtime For The World Economy?

Global stock markets are riding high and the world economy is improving. Does the recovery have legs?

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“Vive L’Europe,” said Daniel Grote on Citywire. The “relief rally” that swept through European markets following the first round of the French presidential election swiftly went global. The FTSE 100 enjoyed its biggest daily rise since September; New York’s Nasdaq index hit a record high, as did the MSCI gauge of global stocks. The rosy outlook also found expression at the International Monetary Fund’s gathering in Washington DC last week, where finance ministers and economists were in positively buoyant mood, said Szu Ping Chan in The Daily Telegraph. Gone were last year’s warnings of a “new mediocre”. For the IMF’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, spring was in the air “and in the economy as well”. Recovery looks to be broad-based: with Brazil and Russia finally “emerging from deep recessions” and growth in the euroz