GDP

Over the past few weeks, France, Germany and Japan reported GDP growth for the second quarter, which appears to indicate that they are now emerging out of recession.

The commodities sector has endured quite a remarkable period since November last year, with demand for commodities rebounding strongly.

"Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas" was the title of Edward Lorenz's talk in 1972 that helped bring aspects of chaos theory to a wider audience.

Fidelity's Trevor Greetham has boosted commodities exposure in his Multi Asset Strategic fund after the manager's investment clock model moved to the ‘overheat' phase for the first time since 2007.

As emerging markets evolve, is it time to reassess the asset class?

Following a 70% rally from the lows of March, Asian equities' outperformance gap versus the rest of the world has widened even further, resulting in 31% outperformance for the first seven months of the year.

When making asset allocation decisions, the temptation is always to opt for markets and funds that are performing well.

The S&P 500 has risen more than 40% since the lows witnessed earlier this year.

Despite frequent waves of negative news, there are several bullish trends emerging for the US economy and its stock market.

The overall economic picture, from the combined newsflow at macro and individual company level, is one of uneasy stability.