If you look back over the last hundred years we have seen some extreme highs and lows in the worldwide economy and worldwide stock markets. Over the last decade we have seen historically low interest rates, difficult economic growth and the banking crisis which brought the worldwide economy to its knees. While things are certainly improving in areas such as the US, how do markets adapt to new environments? Read full article
Most products require some level of adaptation or localization. .... If an exporter can find a virgin market that is devoid of current and potential competition, there may be no need to adapt or localize the product.
Bang! There we have it - investors are finally waking up to the fact investment markets depend on low cost finance at the moment to move forward in the near future. Ironically, the malaise in the US markets may delay planned interest rate increases meaning more cheap finance available for the forseeable future - we live in a very strange world!
Despite one of the worst weeks for many years do you feel any real panic in the markets? Not yet.... This is quite alarming because the signs are there for severe trouble in the short term - inflation spiking and concerns that any increase in the cost of finance will see many consumers facing a severe financial squeeze. Too much cheap finance waiting to be injected into the market could make a difficult situation even worse in the medium term.
