Is the global economic recovery running out of steam? StanLib economist Kevin Lings says the US leading economic indicator – comprising 10 measures of US-economic health – could ‘turn-over’ in the next two months. But there are some facts you should consider before getting on your loud hailer in an attempt to encourage your neighbours to dump their shares. Your first consideration should be for the unrelenting 11-month acceleration in this barometer of superpower wellbeing. Some slowdown is inevitable...

We have come to Bombay to get a good look at India - at least the part of it you can see from a 10th floor room at the Taj Mahal Hotel. Which isn't much. The air is too dense. Still, we can make out the figures of whole families eating and sleeping on the pavement near the dock. We have never seen families sleeping on the pavement on Regent Street...nor on 5th Avenue. New York and London are great success stories. Turning the pages here, on the other hand, we read a failure story.

Adrian Clayton of Alphen Asset Management says his “investment team were bullish last year believing that markets were cheap but they never imagined that the rebound would be as steep and as quick as it has been.” The problem is, with the All Share Index hovering around 27,000 after a 46.48% bull market in 2009, even if it runs to its all-time high of 33,233, you’re only going to make another 20%.

Monopoly is great as a board game, but results in untold suffering when applied in the world of industry. If you want to see the impact of monopoly on business you need look no further than the bitter battle raging between steel producer ArcelorMittal (JSE: ACL) and its key iron ore supplier Kumba Iron Ore (JSE: KIO).