What’s worrying investors elsewhere these days — particularly in the Americas — is the threat of inflation and/or a disruptive rise in interest rates. It’s interesting that, when you question most US investors about where they see interest rates heading, the almost instant response is “Well, you know, you can’t forecast interest rates.” But if you press and ask again “But where do you think rates are going,” most will also quickly respond “Oh, almost certainly up. But not by very much.”

The reason for these fears, of course, is the trillions of dollars that the US Federal Reserve has printed in its attempts to shore up the banks, stabilise the bond markets and, hopefully, stimulate job growth at home. (It apparently has accomplished the former but not the latter. Jobs have grown over the past five years, but only incrementally without the explosive kind of growth need