Recent years have seen the the most vigorous worldwide growth in decades. This is coming to an end, which is why oil prices are declining. Today's headlines in Britain saying that the economy was flat in the latest quarter are but one piece of evidence. From the Daily Telegraph:

The UK economy ground to a standstill last quarter, putting to an end the country's longest stretch of growth in more than a century.

Britain's gross domestic product failed to expand in the three months to the end of June, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed today. The figure was worse than economists had expected and weaker than an initial estimate for the period.

The news delivers a huge blow to Gordon Brown whose popularity is plunging as the economy heads toward its first recession since the early 1990s.

It will also add pressure on the Bank of England to put aside its concern about the inflation threat and deliver the cuts in interest rates signalled in the Inflation Report earlier this month.