Correction without panic

However, there was no panic on the global bourses similar to that experienced by investors six months ago. The correction mainly occurred on western markets, and was rather shallow in the US and Asia. This was particularly visible in late March and early April, when the European stock markets closed in the red, whereas in the USA and China they remained in the green on a weekly basis. The price falls were not only a consequence of the profit-making or the quarter coming to an end. They were triggered by PMI data showing weak investor confidence - in Germany (the biggest European economy)the index plummeted below 50 points, the level that marks the threshold separating economic development from stagnation. At the end of March, the Fed published its session report, in which it stated that the central bank would not increase the supply of dollars, even though this had a positive impact on the world economy in recent quarters. Finally, the problems faced by southern Europe were also deterr