Expert opinion

Some experts suggest that environmental regulations, such as the US decision to quit the Paris Climate Agreement, are likely to have a zero impact on the US economy. Do you share this point of view? Why?

It depends on a period of time that you are talking about. I think that in the long run it has a negative impact. I believe that the energy sector, especially alternative energy sources, hold tremendous opportunities for economic growth. If the US is not going to push in that direction, then other counties will take that growth away. Thus, I think that within the next two years there may be no effect, but, going forward, it has a negative impact on the US economy.

It was becoming obvious at about this time in 2007 that something very bad was happening in America’s banks. Air was rushing out of the US housing market bubble and the country’s banks, mortgage providers and brokers were bearing the brunt of the blast.

One of the biggest sub-prime lenders in the US, New Century Financial, had already filed for bankruptcy. Bear Stearns would soon bail out one of its hedge funds that was exposed to the US housing market to the tune of $3.2bn. The bank would be forced to liquidate it a month later. As we now know, what started in the US would spread around the world.

Part of the crisis response has been to rewrite the global bank rulebook. Much of this has been sensible. This has made them safer to the kind of capital flight that did for them in the crisis. Big capital buffers should mean that the largest banks will not need to turn to taxpayers if there is a repeat of the conditions of the financial crisis.

Should the Fed continue with two more interest rate hikes in 2017, many commentators are of the opinion that the US will have a recession in 2018. The Fed`s intention to trim its balance sheet, if put into practice, will mean turmoil in the bond market as the Treasury will have to issue more bonds to cover the deficit of $670B with the national debt currently at $19.96T. The Fed will probably end up having to buy some of the new debt, thereby foiling its efforts at rebalancing its balance. October is at present the most likely month for a stock market correction or crash according to some observers.

Biotechnology is defined as the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make products, or "any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use" (UN Convention on Biological Diversity). The recent dramatic improvements and progresses in research and achievements in this sector reveal a considerable potential for the improvement of the quality of life but also for the creation of economic value. Therefore, biotech can be considered as key industry for the century.

The manipulation of the prices of precious metals is already well-known, and even so no criminal proceedings have been undertaken against the central banks, which also buy stocks. This has had as a consequence that the prices of equities are at the moment artificially high. Investors should take profits now.

Fancy diamonds are considered to be true works of art, comparable only to priceless paintings and other items that elude conventional valuation standards: their value is the result of a series of factors determining a unique price that cannot be obtained with a sterile calculation.

Asia Pacific’s (APAC) population, at almost 3.5 billion, is twice that of Europe and the Americas combined. The tremendous speed of migration from rural to urban locations has led to the creation of many large, densely populated cities, such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

Britain aims to stay in a good relationship with the European Union and continue cooperation on security and defence issues. What is your own opinion, will Britain be able to maintain a good partnership with the EU?

This is obviously the key question at the moment. We all hope that relations between Britain, the European Union and, of course, individual EU countries will remain cordial, though the negotiations are likely to be extremely difficult and complex, while there is a chance of tensions being raised and disagreements being voiced strongly at various points in time. What is important is that once negotiations are finished, we have good trading arrangements between the UK on the one side and the 27 EU countries on the other. At this point in time, it is impossible to know exactly what these trading arrangements are going to be.