The FTSE 100 could rally another 300 points after topping 6,000 on Wednesday for the first time since July 2011, according to Sandy Jadeja, chief technical analyst at U.K. brokerage City Index.
Ballooning central bank balance sheets across the U.S., Europe, the U.K. and Japan are “profoundly abnormal”, according to Jean-Claude Trichet, the former president of the ECB.
Oil prices could fall by more than $10 per barrel in 2013, according to a number of analysts, who say the decline could provide a big boost for economic growth in the West.
Even as markets have been focused on a potential bailout for Spain, analysts say Italy, which is heading for a protracted recession, may also need aid in 2013.
Two-thirds of chief executives and chief financial officers from around the world view the euro zone crisis as an opportunity to gain competitive advantage over rivals, according to a survey by global consultancy firm Accenture.
As the euro zone debt crisis weighs on the German “strong man of Europe”, Germany’s slowdown puts Eastern Europe’s growth at risk too, analysts told CNBC.
The S&P 500 is set to fall another 8 percent by the end of the year, on top of the 7 percent decline seen since the year’s high reached in September, according to a new strategy note by Goldman Sachs.
U.S. stocks markets’ poor performance since November is due to an already present “profits cliff,” not a future “fiscal cliff,” Societe Generale strategist Albert Edwards said in a note on Wednesday.