Mark Matthews, Chief Asia Strategist, Merrill Lynch does not see things improving for the market till Q3 of the next year. He said that the stock market is virtual while the economy is real. He expects economies all around the world to get worse. “I think the best thing that we can look at in terms of stock market is the OECD or Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development indicator, that’s the leading indicator for the G7, the largest economies in the world.”

Matthews said that the market tends to price bad news much earlier than they happen and so believes the markets have fully discounted the bad news we have had. He feels that stocks are cheap at current levels.

On Asian Markets Matthews said, “The low for Asian market was on October 27. The market may test that level but I believe that it’s a reasonably solid level.” He does not expect the market to breach the October 27 low, which is 15% lower than where the Asian markets are today.

Mark Matthews is not too worried Indian markets. He does not see a tremendous amount of stress in India. However, he said that the corporate sector would be slower than what analysts anticipate. “I am underweight on India but if I balance up all the pros and cons, India doesn’t look particularly dangerous or attractive.”