One major factor on the minds of investors recently has been the prospect of inflation in emerging economies. Inflation often leads to higher interest rates, and therefore slower growth rates. Many companies, particularly U.S. based companies, are depending on strong growth in countries like China and India. We do think that building inflationary pressures will cause some of these countries to tighten rates. However, those governments will probably not tighten
so much that they completely choke off their growth prospects. You can look toward the unrest in the Middle East for one of reasons we feel somewhat confident in this prediction. The social and political turmoil that has arisen due in large part to high rates of unemployment, is going to prevent many governments from dramatically impacting economic growth by tightening credit conditions and monetary policy.
