Growth will cushion a difficult period

By Alistair Byrne, director of insured business at Aegon Asset Management Global equity markets have recovered sharply from the lows seen immediately after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. In part, this reflects investors' positive response to the interest rate cuts and other policy actions put in place by governments around the world to support economic growth. There also seems to be some relief that the US military response has been quite narrowly focused and supported by a broad coalition of nations. Consumer confidence in the US was fragile even before the te...