US economic data encouraging - despite potentially higher levels of volatility

The US market continues to climb higher on encouraging economic data, recovering oil prices and the Federal Reserve's cautious approach to raising interest rates, writes Franklin Templeton's Grant Bowers.

However, ongoing concerns about global growth have led to periods of significant market declines, which has resulted in many investors sitting on the sidelines. From our perspective, US consumers appear to be generally healthy, the economy is operating near full employment, wages are starting to rise and consumer debt levels are low. We continue to have conviction in select areas of the market, particularly in the information technology, healthcare and consumer discretionary sectors. US equities: Is the glass half full or half empty? In the tech sector, the outlook for spending...