European shares closed higher on Tuesday after Portugal revealed an austerity-focused budget and a report suggested Spain is ready to request a bailout.
A “consumer revolution” will take place as close to 3 billion people join the global middle class in the next four decades, with the balance of power shifting inexorably to countries now classed as emerging markets, according to HSBC economists Karen Ward and Frederic Neumann. They predict that the emerging world will account for close to two-thirds of total global consumption by 2050 – up from less than a third in 2012.
European shares closed higher on Monday after strong macroeconomic data out of China, upbeat comments about Greece's future in the euro zone, and hopes that Spain is edging closer to requesting a bailout.