Will markets make that vital switch after QE?

ON WEDNESDAY, Wall Street sprang to life after several listless days - a move which some wire reports attributed to Apple's unveiling of its new iPhone and watch. Maybe so, but more likely is that prices rose after news that wholesale inventories increased just 0.1 per cent: the smallest rise since July last year.

With June's figures being revised downward, the suggestion is that US GDP growth may not be that great - perversely, a situation that markets have grown to like these past five years since central banks (particularly the US Federal Reserve) embarked on their "quantitative easing" or QE programmes.

The Fed is due to complete tapering its QE programme after its October Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. This means that from November, markets will have to stand on their own without the benefit of US QE support. It is not a particularly appealing prospect.