By Adrian Cox
Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Bankers, investors, and executives last week arrived at the Swiss resort of Davos giddy about record profits and bonuses. After five days of hectoring by policy makers that they are too complacent, they left just as happy.
``The mood has been totally upbeat,'' Sunil Mittal, the billionaire chairman of Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's largest mobile-phone operator, said of the 37th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. ``I've never seen a mood like this.''
Warnings by central bankers such as Jean-Claude Trichet were batted away by dealmakers like Michael Klein, co-president of Citigroup Inc.'s investment banking unit, and David Rubenstein, managing director at the Carlyle Group Inc. buyout firm. They were confident in their ability to cope with the inevitable slowdown of the world's strongest economic growth in three decades.
``The consensus here in Davos is everybody's thinking it'll be another booming year,'' Morgan Stanley Chief Global Economist Stephen Roach said.
Emerging markets, led by China and India, are fueling the global expansion and corporate borrowing has never been easier. The amount of debt used to finance European buyouts reached a record high in the third quarter. The risk of owning European corporate bonds dropped to the lowest ever last week, according to credit-default swap traders.
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