Those whose hopes of a much bigger crisis in Europe are about to be dashed after the final approval of the EFSF bailout fund by Slovakia can take heart in this view from Reuters Breaking Views founder Hugo Dixon that the chance of a “total disaster” still exists.

Muddling through with years of zero or negative growth is now seen as the most likely scenario, an outlook that, some time ago, would have been considered a disappointment, but, after the events of the last few months, seems much less of one now.