On the morning of August 9, the day after markets in Europe and the US collapsed, the Hong Kong government agreed to sell a plot of land at the minimum asking price to the sole bidding group that bothered to show up. For a property market that has seen prices rising 80 per cent in the past 30 months, the results sent a frisson of shock through the territory. That same day, the Hang Seng stock index dropped 5.7 per cent.

Several days later, Kevin Lai, the local economist for Daiwa Capital Markets, noted that with a 0.5 per cent seasonally adjusted contraction over the second quarter, Hong Kong - the most externally driven economy in the region - is now "halfway into recession".

David Fuller's view Anyone who has been to Hong Kong during the last several decades knows that it is an exciting, hard working, resilient and enterprising place. In addition to the weak second quarter, contacts in Hong Kong tell me that activity is very flat, not least for banking and other financial recruitment.

If Hong Kong is struggling, we can be sure plenty of other regions are experiencing at least a sharp growth slowdown and I would not be optimistic about the US and UK avoiding a drift back into recession.