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By Anne D. Picker, International Economist, Econoday     12/4/00 Investors continue to be worried by earnings and outlook concerns. Underlying these basic economic concerns is the unresolved U.S. presidency. The longer the political impasse lasts, the more it will influence market thinking. The markets have a full plate of relatively bad news already. Earnings are retreating from stratospheric heights to merely more normal and sustainable levels. And the U.S. economy is finally slowing as well. How slow it will go will depend in part, on consumers and how all the recent bad news affects their expectations. There is an old saw that the U.S. stock markets in their capacity as a leading indicator have predicted 21 of the last 9 recessions in the postwar era. In reality, markets respond factors other than economic growth as well. Introduction   •   Global Stock Market Indexes   •   Recap of Global Markets   •   Currencies   •  Indicator Scoreboard The Bottom Line   •   Looking Ahead © Econoday, 2000. All Rights Reserved.