Another is that America has exported some of its slump in business investment to other countries.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus

Marriage decorators and caterers report a 50% to 80% slump in business.

CNN: TRAPPED IN THE BIG SQUEEZE

In the U.S., recent reports showing sagging retail sales and a slump in business orders for big-ticket items have raised concerns about a slowdown.

NPR: Earnings Report: Good Profits, Bad Revenues

The slump started with a collapse in business investment following the excesses of the late 1990s technology and telecoms boom.

BBC: US shares hit 15-month high

Its segments of the semiconductor business are in a slump.

FORBES: Analytic myopia

The venture business is now 12 years into a slump in returns that has discouraged even the most enthusiastic investors and limited partners in the space.

FORBES: Life Sciences: The Rodney Dangerfield of Venture Capital

Their investment sank by 19%, worse than any quarter in the 2001 recession which was, after all, a business investment-led slump.

ECONOMIST: The economy

The success of business education is reflected through applications for MBAs remaining high even since the slump, in spite of the decline in demand for executive and customised programmes.

ECONOMIST: The Gordon-Howell report of 1959

Without these charges the company reported profits that increased 32% from a year ago and came in above the analyst consensus, as the tourist and business travel industry appears to pick up from its slump two years ago.

FORBES: Marriott Posts Q3 Loss On Charges, Sees Light With Higher Room Revenue