What is particularly worrisome about the global slowdown is that it was largely set in motion by the investment bust in the United States. The key issue for the global economy in the future is whether the next recovery, when it finally arrives, will correct the imbalances that the boom created in each economy, or whether continued reliance on the United States as the world’s locomotive will merely paper over their existing stress points. If markets are on the brink of a global recession, further downward earnings revisions will follow.