A higher oil price is like a tax on consumers. It pushes up price levels and consumers are going to spend less on everything else. |
Ending super-easy monetary policy is a big plus for the equity market because it means economic recovery is going to be sustained, the exit from deflation is for real, and the economy is becoming a more normal economy. |
It's a steady, rather than explosive, expansion in the economy with the employment and wage data gradually picking up. |
Looking back, there was a huge bubble. We don't have anything like those extreme valuations now. |
The Bank of Japan realizes that maintaining zero [percent] interest rates introduces moral hazard into the financial system. |
Their earnings have been disappointing, unlike the rest of the market. They are facing more competition from low-cost producers elsewhere, for example in China and Korea. |
There's considerable nervousness about the direction of interest rates. After having such a strong run earlier, markets need some time to catch their breath. |
This Indonesia thing is a storm in a tea cup. I don't see any chance of this developing into a 1997 crisis. Asia's made too much progress. |
We'll be pleasantly surprised by Japan, we'll be pleasantly surprised by European data, so in a global equity portfolio, stay fully invested. |