Signs that gasoline prices have topped out may be good news for President Barack Obama, whom Republicans have tried to tie to a climb in energy costs.

"The lower they go, the less they will be an issue," said Bruce Oppenheimer, a professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, who has studied energy and politics.

Less Threatening

Europe's sovereign-debt crisis also seems less threatening now than it did late last year, even though the region's economy may be heading into recession and the problem hasn't been resolved, said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

He credits a shift in strategy by the European Central Bank for allaying some of the concerns. By flooding banks with more than 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) and returning interest rates to a record low 1 percent in December, the ECB helped calm fears of a disorderly break-up for the 17-nation currency union.

While Spanish bond yields rose last week in a sign that the region's financial troubles are intensifying, they still were below levels hit last year. The yield on government 10-year debt was 5.98 percent at 4:36 p.m. in London April 13, up from 5.76 percent at the start of the week, but below 2011's high of 6.7 percent.

"The markets are starting to get worried," Bruce Kasman, chief economist for JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, said in a video e-mailed to clients on April 13. European policy makers ultimately may have to show that the financial "firewall" they've put in place to contain the crisis will work with Spain, he added.

Financial markets also were rocked at the end of last week by fears of a hard landing for China's economy. Growth slowed to 8.1 percent in the first quarter, the least in almost three years, from 8.9 percent in the previous three months, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing. The news helped drive the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down 1.3 percent on April 13 to 1,370.26 at 4 p.m. in New York.

Japanese growth, in contrast, is picking up as the nation recovers from last year's earthquake and tsunami that left almost 20,000 people dead or missing, disrupted global supply chains and curbed U.S. growth. The world's third largest economy will expand 2 percent this year, said David Hensley, director of global economics at JPMorgan Chase in New York. GDP contracted 0.75 percent in 2011.

Withstand Shocks