Cost control hard to achieve but groups are proving capable

The markets have continued to move positively, driven in part by second-quarter results which have so far been relatively supportive.

Many companies have proven themselves to be successful at taking out sufficient costs to protect their profits and to a greater degree than they were originally anticipated as being capable of. This is more significant in Europe, where investors generally believe that this type of cost control is difficult to achieve. Elsewhere, from a demand point of view, the markets have shown some early signs of stabilisation. There have been certain areas that have demonstrated resilience, such as technology products and services, energy and infrastructure. Additionally, economic development in d...