“Service-sector inflation has been picking up. Wage inflation has shown some signs of picking up so, unlike the U.S., [Britain] does have some worrying signs of inflation.”
“There's still a bit of a tech wreck going on in the wake of the Nasdaq weakness. The other problem is that we haven't had good sector rotation and we've seen a bit of a sell-off in the banks. The results for the banks have not been too good - they are facing margin pressures.”
“There are two key challenges to the U.S. market: one is Fed policy -- and it's still our concern that the Fed will be increasing rates this side of Christmas; secondly, it's the slowing corporate earnings outlook. Although corporate earnings are still probably going to rise, I think there's a concern that numbers may come in below consensus and drive the markets down.”
“Given what's happening in Europe, which could be a knee-jerk reaction to what happened in the U.S. Friday, we're probably going to be down again (in the U.S.). What's been happening is that investors have a burst of energy for a week, then it starts to unravel.”
“This thing has been bid down and down. But I think on fundamentals now, taking a two to three-year view, people have got more comfortable with the level that we're paying.”