" e Economy Global growth Global growth is showing broad-based signs of improvement, supported by decisive is showing monetary policy from the world's major central banks. In the US, the housing market recovery continues and the labor market remains on a modest uptrend. This has helped broad-based improve the sentiment of US consumers, and consumption remains the most important ws contributor to US GDP growth. Growth has also begun to pick up in key areas of the signs of emerging markets, including China and Brazil. While the Eurozone economy remains weak, improvement. " Hi expect Q3 2012 to mark the bottom, and that growth will begin to get "less bad" from e Equities Equity markets have been supported by central bank action and the recent improvements in economic data. Our preferred markets remain the US and Emerging Markets (EM). Investor funds have started to flow back into EM, as economic data is improving and inflation remains under control. Canada and Australia remain our least favored regions due to falling earnings. e Fixed Income US high yield bonds remain supported by strong corporate fundamentals, modest economic growth, and the broad demand for yield-generating assets. Given this, we see potential for further spread tightening. Meanwhile, benchmark rates are expected to rise gradually on better economic data, while short rates remain ultra-low. While investment grade corporate bond spreads are approximately fair value, we continue to view their absolute yields as attractive. e Commodities We keep a neutral stance on commodities. Increased global liquidity has pushed prices up over the last few months, however, for a more sustained price increase we likely need to see further evidence of an acceleration in global growth. e Foreign Exchange We remain underweight the Japanese yen. The Japanese economy continues to weaken against its peers, leading to rising pressure for the Bank of Japan to engage in further quantitative easing. We have closed our preferenc