US job data not surprising; bet on FMCG, pharma: EM Cap

Freeman feels the Federal Reserve will be under a lot of pressure to opt for a third round of quantitative easing or QE3. In present market conditions, he chooses consumer goods, pharma and healthcare as his top picks.

Here is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18.

Q: Having seen the poor job numbers in August, do you think the Fed will announce some kind of quantitative easing this time?

A: It's not so surprising to me as I have been telling for sometime that it didn't make any sense, that employment figures would be improving during the summer. That's actually when fewer people are looking for jobs and that is exactly what the job report revisions indicate.

Q: How early are you expecting the Fed to move this expected stimulus, as early as next week's meeting? When may it actually start buying bonds?

A: I believe there would be quite a lot of pressure on the Fed to act sooner than later. But, it would be hard to imagine with the meeting coming up so soon that there would be some kind of a liquidity announcement before that. Bernanke is very strategic and not over-reactive. I am sure this will be discussed over the weekend and they will be developing a strategy.

Q: With European Central Bank already promising some bond purchases and thus removing risk, do you see the risk rally getting extended across the globe?

A: Yes. I would imagine that with greater liquidity some of that will enter the equities markets and that raises some questions about whether we are really looking at fundamentals improving or whether it is simply a response to policy measures.