Sunny, with slight chance of overcapacity

Financial people tend to describe markets in meteorological terms, such as market "turbulence" or financial "tsunamis". These words vividly convey market conditions, so I would like to draw on further meteorological analogies to make my points.

For 2014, we expect a warming trend to continue. Yet there are bound to be pockets of cloudy and unstable weather.

The US economic map will be "clear with rising temperatures". Earlier this year, its growth momentum had moderated due to severe conditions, such as a decline in new orders and slow expansion in public spending. But on the back of greater fiscal certainty, easing of tightening measures and near completion of private sector deleveraging, the American economy is on track to achieve greater than expected growth. Official estimates indicate that the US economy will expand at 2.9 percent to 3.4 percent in 2014, which may well herald an early spring for its recovery.