As the US led the world into the slowdown it was expected to pull it out at the other

"As the US led the world into the slowdown, it was expected to pull it out at the other end," he said. "At best this will be postponed."John Llewellyn, the global chief economist for Lehman Brothers, said forecasts of a recovery had been based on the resilience of American consumers, which now looked in doubt "The net effect will likely be negative," he said. "The US will likely end up in recession and the global economy will perform worse than in the early 1990s slowdown."The CBI, the UK employers' group, said it was too early to say with certainty that there would be a long-term impact on the world economy. Digby Jones, the group's director-general, said: "Clearly there will be short-term disruption to financial markets and to commerce within the US. But it is premature to say that the attacks in themselves will necessarily lead to a significant further weakening of the world economy."Hopes of avoiding a recession rested on a cut in interest rates by the Federal Reserve, the US central bank. Carl Weinberg, the chief economist at High Frequency Economics in New York, said: "I have confidence that the system will be strong enough and that the folks in charge will be wise enough to see us all through this storm."He believed US business, workers and officials would continue to work and behave as normal, adding: "We are at our desks. I refuse to be terrorised."But bankers in the City of London said that traders were watching rather than participating.

David Harbage, fund manager at Barclays Stockbrokers, said: "Everyone is still shell shocked. It is uncertain where the markets are going."And, so very close to human tragedy, investors and financiers are not in their normal hard-nosed mode and watched rather than drove the market."Mike Lenhoff, a strategist at Gerrard, said: "I think people are waiting until we get the lead back from the States."Philip Shaw, chief economist at the City stockbroker Investec, said that he thought the US could slide could into technical recession this year.. As they continued to burrow through the mountainous rubble of the World Trade Centre, the teams of firefighters – known as "New York's bravest" in tribute to their professionalism – could be forgiven for being in a state of denial. As they continued to burrow through the mountainous rubble of the World Trade Centre, the teams of firefighters – known as "New York's bravest" in tribute to their professionalism – could be forgiven for being in a state of denial. Most involved in the rescue operation would have been aware that under the piles of concrete and twisted steel lay not only untold numbers of office workers, but several hundred of their colleagues.The fire brigade had fought its way through the rush-hour congestion in a m?e of sirens and screaming citizens on Tuesday morning to face a task even greater than the aftermath of the Trade Centre bombing in 1993.But when 110 floors of skyscraper came crashing down barely an hour later, even the best training proved irrelevant. By then, many officers were marshalling confused citizens down stairwells or directing operations at street level, where they were directly in the path of thousands of tons of falling debris.Up to 400 firefighters were feared dead, including Ray Downey, the city's chief of special operations, who had led a team from New York to Oklahoma City after the 1995 bombing. Also feared killed were the majority of the ?te rescue unit and entire other teams, as well as an estimated 20 officers of the New York Police Department "It's just a devastating thing," a fire official said. "The fire department will recover, but I don't know how."Most of the fatalities are thought to be lying under what remains of the twin towers, but scores are also feared dead after the collapse late Tuesday of the adjacent 7 World Trade Centre, which served as the command centre for the Office of Emergency Management.The officers dashed up the Trade Centre through a cascade of bricks and mortar in search of survivors on upper floors.

Many of the rescuers were from six-person units that specialise in building collapses, and many are now missing.Marite Anez, who was working in an office on the 87th floor of 1 World Trade Centre, said that as she and hundreds of others scrambled down stairways, she passed many firefighters climbing up. She said that when she reached the first floor the building collapsed."That's when everyone panicked Everyone was pushing The fire people gave us light, showed us the way out. The ones who were going up, I'm sure they died," she said.One of the fire department's Roman Catholic chaplains, Mychal Judge, had rushed to the scene to comfort victims – he too was killed in the collapse. The cream of the brigade were still missing in action last night.Michael Carter, vice-president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, who was on the scene, said: "There are entire companies we can't find. At this point, it's less of a firefighting operation and more like a war."The mood at the fire department's makeshift headquarters was buoyed sporadically by tales of miraculous escapes: co-workers pulled from the wreckage by the light of dawn; up to five colleagues who had survived by being trapped in air pockets. Throughout Tuesday night, fire officials went to firehouses carrying out head counts to determine the death toll. But well before then the realisation had dawned that the fire department was in the midst of its worst disaster.Their colleagues from the NYPD were also coming to terms with a significant loss of life among their ranks.