The last time we checked in on Reuters, right after the Lehman failure, CEO Tom Glocer maintained his optimism, but admitted that a sustained global depression would not be good for anyone. Since then, there hasn’t been much to make the economic picture look prettier. But Glocer is sticking to his guns: He told analysts in London that despite it all, the company would not lower its forecast. And if there are any problems, he says, they won’t be long term. For 2008, revenue is expected to grow, organically, by 6 to 8 percent.

So why is Glocer confident? Well, there’s the legal and the healthcare business, which may be counter-cyclical, or at least a-cyclical. And the markets division may have a role to play in the consolidation of the industry: “There’s a lot of compensating work that needs to be done now to stitch together all these trading operations.”

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