Europeans still own more than a third of all the US stocks and bonds held by non-residents, but emerging-country investors are moving up rapidly. The portion in Chinese hands has quadrupled since the turn of the decade to almost 10 per cent, owing above all to China’s build-up of foreign currency reserves.
But there is a risk, which got worse last summer, that growth and inflation remain weak in the long term and that we fall into a “1% economy”: growth at 1% and inflation at 1%. This outlook is dangerous enough to be a concern to everybody.