European and Asian leaders have been calling for calm, saying that their economies are healthier than that of the US and well placed to ride out a recession there. The German government said today it's still banking on 1.7 percent growth this year. But the US does account for nearly 60 percent of global demand and exercises a strong influence on export dependent economies such as Germany's. (Mel) Although some investors here often hold out hope of what they call decoupling, others say the old adage still holds: when the US sneezes, Europe catches a cold. +++SYN-MAZ+++