Economic recovery still looks patchy

By Mark Harris, head of investment managemment at Edinburgh Fund Managers As we wrote in April, it has been a tough start to the year, with the much-vaunted economic recovery very patchy. This continues to be the case, with consensus earnings forecasts too high given expected levels of GDP, little sign of any improvement in capital expenditure and nascent signs of a slowing US consumer. But attitudes seem to have moved to more extremes, with some now worrying about a double-dip recession and even the spectre of deflation. Markets continue to suffer from the dominant influe...