'US consumers have resumed their role as the engine of the global economy'

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Plunging oil prices, a strengthening dollar and a robust domestic economy means the US consumer has resumed its role as the engine of the global economy, delegates at this week’s TPM conference in Long Beach heard.

IHS chief economist Nariman Behravesh said that four main divergent trends had made the global economy eerily reminiscent of the 1980s and 1990s, and argued that the net effect was a positive outlook for global trade and supply chains.

He said the huge plunge in oil ...