Opinion

EM CURRENCIES

INVESTOR SENTIMENT

The FSA's Guidance Note on establishing a customer's risk tolerance and the suitability of recommendations identified a number of serious shortcomings in the processes of many advisers.

One of the surest things in the markets at the moment is that the Bank of England will miss its inflation target of 2% and the governor, Mervyn King, will have to write a letter to the Chancellor.

With the sovereign debt crisis in full maelstrom and the bailout of Dexia bank unlikely to be the last of its kind, the threat of inflation would seem to be a long way from many people's minds.

TOUGH CHOICES AHEAD

B(L)ANK CHEQUES

"I have quite a short time horizon - I am only looking at the next 35 years." A wry comment from Jamie Cayzer-Colvin, chairman of new EM boutique Ocean Dial Asset Management, but one that is fundamental to investment.

The ETF market is the latest segment of the industry to ask itself this question. It is a path which in the last decade has been trodden by the structured investments and split capital investment trust sectors.

The Federal Reserve's latest cunning plan seems to have been misinterpreted by many, but not by Mr Market. This is less of a money-printing exercise, á la QE1 and QE2, than an attempt to flatten the yield curve.