Carmignac Gestion

Dear Sir/Madam,

 "Now you must dance!" Do our governments still recall how the ant refused to lend food to the grasshopper who "sang all summer long and found herself poor when the cold north wind came"?

The spreading of the Greek crisis to several European signatures should certainly help to jog their memories. With investors no longer viewing sovereign debt as immune from the risk of default, governments now find themselves forced to implement economically-responsible policies.

Our countries' leaders are also faced with the difficult task of making the necessary adjustments socially acceptable. The curbing of public debt bodes well for the future, putting a stop to the expansion of the main inequality affecting our ageing nations, namely intergenerational inequality. It is up to us to settle the bill for our own excesses - this burden should not fall on our children and grandchildren. As affluent "senior boomers", it is our duty to accept ambitious reforms in terms of both pension schemes and employment regulations.

And what about global stock markets? Weakened by the strain on European debt and the inevitable slowdown in the US economy, concerns over a possible return to global recession are weighing on them as we enter the summer season. We have our doubts. Though it is certainly true that neither Europe nor the US has much room for manoeuvre in terms of using fiscal and monetary stimuli to counter the lasting effects of the current deleveraging, it would nevertheless be careless to forget, once again, that global growth now relies for the most part on the emerging universe, where the main driving forces are more than capable of kick-starting global activity should the need arise.

Wishing you the smoothest dancing possible for this summer,


Yours faithfully,