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With stockmarkets on a tear and the global economy surprisingly buoyant, plenty of pundits are regretting gloomy warnings of tough times ahead for businesses and investors. They may have been wrong about the economy. But in one respect their gloom looks spot on. Last year 159 companies covered by Moody’s, a ratings agency, defaulted on their debts, up from 92 the year before (excluding Russian firms). Since 1980 that figure has been exceeded only in 2001, 2009 and 2020 (see chart). In America
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