A colourful summer for equities

With many headwinds facing the globe, it is going to be a long and colourful summer for equities markets, says Julian Chillingworth, chief investment officer, Rathbone Unit Trust Management.

A bloody summer could be upon us. Since April, worsening prospects for global economies have driven markets. In a nutshell, the US has suffered from fading growth expectations, with forecasts for GDP growth this year falling to 2.5% from 3%. There are also worries about a slowdown in China and increasing fears of a property bubble in some cities. The UK remains on inflation-watch, and Greece is making investors very nervous indeed. As one of my colleagues so succinctly put it, the peripheral blow-up could well be the slowest train crash in history. The timeline for Greece is now well-...