We're in the midst of the U.S. reporting season, which looks pretty good. Companies in Europe seem to have been publishing good numbers, so I think the fundamentals are still pretty positive.

245

The story from the corporate sector is still fairly positive in terms of earnings and at the moment interest rates going up is more of a fear than a reality.

232

There's a little bit more caution coming into the investment outlook mostly because of fears of higher interest rates in the U.S. and Europe and now Japan.

225

The market was looking for more of a split.

176

The picture is still rosy for the near term; you're looking at higher interest rates overseas but not in the UK. The growth cycle still seems to have legs. We're seeing fairly good earnings momentum and profits growth.

144

I've been somewhat surprised by the weakness of investment levels in the U.K., particularly given the strong position the U.K. corporate sector has been in.

98

Companies have been subject to pressures to look after shareholders by increasing dividends and doing share buybacks and also having to put money into their own pension funds.

83