Economists are not the only ones who debate the likelihood of V or U-shaped recoveries. The same applies to corporate turnrounds. Li & Fung, Asia’s archetypal middleman, just reported solid first-half numbers – welcome, after some painful shocks. But backing it just now means believing it has reached the valley of the U – and made it across, too.

Li & Fung has languished in the market doldrums for a while. Its shares peaked in 2011, since then falling 60 per cent. In valuation terms, it has been sliding since 2007, when it traded at more than 30 times expected earnings. Now it trades on 18 times 2013 forecast profits and its shares are off a fifth this year. But most of the fall followed a profits warning in January. Shares have steadied, implying that the floor of the valley may have been reached.

The best thing about Li & Fung’s first-half numbers is that they met expectations following two sets that included unpleasant surprises. Neatly, management had already steered followers to expect that profits would be split about 20-80 between the first and second halves of this year from a historical 30-70 split. That has taken pressure off these results but leaves the company hostage to a pick-up from here. There were warning notes for investors who want to find them: sales in the US, which accounts for two-thirds of its main supply chain business, were steady but have not risen. Caution among customers of its US brand licensing business – the bit that sucked up $200m-odd in restructuring charges last year, means visibility there is “poor”.