David Bulteel

“Equity markets' continued resilience in the face of high oil prices and rising interest rates owes much to robust corporate profits performance, as well as a substantial level of merger activity, helped by the availability of cheap finance. A period of consolidation is possible after such a broadly based rise. If economies continue to cope well with high energy costs, equities remain attractively priced relative to bonds. “The longer-term test will be whether a rebalancing of global growth, which allows a slowdown in US consumer spending to be compensated by faster growth in other regions, can be achieved.”