Healthy banks are a critical ingredient in the economic infrastructure that underpins growth and equity market performance. Today the healthiest banks are found in Japan and Asia and the weakest in the Eurozone. Thus banks in Japan and Asia look best placed to support growth in their economies, whilst Eurozone banks appear worst-placed.

Since the drama of the Italian election in the spring, European politics have been remarkably quiet. This has been by design – the countries who would like Germany to provide money or ease policy to support their beleaguered economies have understood that it is very important not to scare the German voters ahead of their general election on September 22.

Returns from the UK commercial real estate market have arrived at a critical inflection point. A year ago, the average rental yield on commercial property across all regions and types of property was 6% per annum. However, capital values were declining by about 0.5% per month, giving a zero total return to investors.