The European markets have had a lot to digest during the past few days. With Euro Zone growth grinding to a halt and further afield in places like Japan, where the economy has officially joined the ranks of countries in recession, optimism is in short supply.

And that gloomy sentiment is evident in the downward trend in European trade.

Despite the mood, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, back in London after last weekend's G-20 economic summit in Washington, says the way out of this global problem is a coordinated global approach.

"The managing director of the International Monetary Fund has joined many other people today in calling for a fiscal stimulus," Brown said. "A fiscal stimulus means helping families and helping businesses now through this difficult position and as long as you have, as we will have, a medium-term framework for fiscal sustainability, then this is the right thing to do facing the downturn. It is right, as now almost everybody accepts across the world and every country is now looking at this, that we help people through these difficult times."