A sigh of relieve. Markets for the week ending 4-Dec-09

This week, the world's financial markets started the week beset with concerns about the impact of Dubai World's debt, but took a twist for the better on Friday as U.S. job figures provided the optimism for recovery.

U.S unemployment rate fell from 10.2% to 10% and risk assets enjoyed strong gains on the last day of the week as investors were encouraged by the first drop in since jobless rate since April 2008.

The U.S. dollar rallied as interest rate expectations underwent a dramatic shift. Relative to the Japanese yen, the U.S. dollar rose more than 3.5% as investors focused on the impetus for the Federal Reserve to exit from its ultra loose monetary policy stance sooner than forecasted.

Eric Tan,
London

Dubai Inc - Markets for the week ending 27-Nov-09

Question: What is(are) the key lesson(s) from the Dubai World event?

a) A timely reminder that this is a too-quick-to-be-true recovery for the global economy
b) The decoupling story that emerging markets carries higher growth opportunities deserve to be charged higher risk premiums
c) Risky investments NPV-ed against implied state guarantees carries default risk that are typically underweighted by investors

Answer: All of the above.

Eric Tan,
Singapore