On economics

While the worst of the financial sector crisis may well be over, we believe it is too early to sou...

While the worst of the financial sector crisis may well be over, we believe it is too early to sound the all clear on the economic cycle. It increasingly looks like a W-shaped cycle, which means markets could experience a relatively benign period but growth may take some time to recover significantly. Recent economic data has been weak but not as bad as feared. After several years of strong growth, the payback from the UK residential property market boom is now evident. While slower growth is a concern in the developed world, it is the increasing pressure on inflation from rising comm...