There’s no rose without a thorn

‘We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses’
Abraham Lincoln

The year has certainly had a perplexing start. Markets have tumbled, spreads have widened, and measures of financial stress have risen precipitously. Yet the global economy, led by the US, China and Europe, is growing, unemployment is falling and the US Federal Reserve raised rates because they thought that the evidence showed that the economies were normalizing after the extraordinary support it required since the global financial crises. Companies are also doing well with growing businesses, strong balance sheets and outlook statements that do not foresee an impending recession.

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