Acknowledging that the forecasting consensus has missed many of the big stories of recent years, analysts at HSBC have attempted to outline the biggest potential risks for investors in 2015.
Japan's economy shrank more than initially estimated in the third quarter of 2014, according to revised gross domestic product (GDP) figures.
It has been a turbulent couple of months for policy makers in Japan.
The UK will narrowly escape a triple-dip recession with economic growth for Q1 forecast to be 0.1%, acccording to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research(NIESR).
The UK economy will post growth of 0.6% this year, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), a downward revision from its December forecast.
Threadneedle's head of US equities Cormac Weldon considers how far along the road to recovery the US really is, as well as which sectors will support and benefit from the economic revival.
Britain is on track for a triple-dip recession, one of the nation's leading forecasters has signalled, as new figures on the UK's manufacturing industry dealt a blow to recovery hopes and sent sterling crashing to a fresh two-and-a-half year low.
UK GDP contracted 0.3% in the last quarter of 2012, according the second reading of the data.
The UK will avoid falling into a 'triple-dip' recession but external forces still pose a danger to the economy, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
A leading thinktank has urged the government to take drastic steps to stimulate economic growth in the UK, as another forecast a 50/50 chance of a triple-dip recession.