Europe's workers being on the streets yesterday in anti-austerity protests. It's not about how conservative/dovish the new China leadership is (we think fiscal easing). It's not just about the likelihood of the US debt cliff. These are clearly vitally important.. but... Nope the big question is same as it ever it was.. same as it ever was... outlook for 2013 looks like a sustained period of low rates on the back of the "will it/won't it" global economic picture -- how to lock in yields today and when to mount the big asset allocation switch? Perhaps now is the time to be starting with equities after the recent declines -- are the global growth doubters over-reacting? Clearly the US is the critical economy to watch. How Obama negotiates over tax hikes for the rich and steers towards a fiscal cliff solution will be critical for growth sentiment. Upside on that is going to trigger a pretty spectacular price move -- but on the other hand the market loves nothing more than to disappoint... France posted stronger than expected 0.2% positive growth this morning -- not by a lot, but is it a sign Europe's economic woes are bottoming? Temporary uptick at best we suspect -- but another thing for markets to be thinking about. I suspect next year will be about mean reversion of core Europe towards where the peripheral yields have settled. When I got back to the flat last night I flipped on the TV to confronted by