Barometer: A spring in the market's step

While global economic and liquidity conditions are far from rosy, we see pockets of improvement that are supportive for risky assets. The US economy remains resilient, while China is showing signs of a recovery. Also, most major central banks are likely to begin cutting interest rates in a matter of months and banks are willing to lend more. Partly in response, we have increased our forecast for global corporate earnings this year to R.E per cent from the previous S.G per cent – largely in line with the consensus estimate.