Gentle slowdown is expected as markets near end of positive cycle

As year end approaches 2007 looks to be a benign environment for markets

This week's debate focuses on global markets, looking at the best and worst markets for 2007. Present were Andrew Cole, director of asset allocation at Barings, and Roger Noddings, chief investment officer at HSBC Investments. Could you give us a brief economic overview of the year so far? Roger Noddings (RN): We are four years into an economic recovery that began in 2002. Under normal circumstances, that would be a mid point for the business cycle but we don't expect this particular cycle will to be quite as long as previous ones. The starting point was one of fairly stable economic c...