With the September 11th remembrances behind, investors are shifting their focus once again to economic data and earnings prospects. Investors will be sifting through the data in their never-ending search for investment opportunities. European investors in particular, will be paying close attention to Germany's election scheduled for September 22nd. The raft of second-quarter economic results released in the past two weeks held no surprises. Europe continues to show meager growth while Japan shows modest growth thanks to exports. Both show negligible consumer demand. With the Japanese fiscal half-year ending on September 30th, worries about the banking system's solvency, which are always below the surface, once again come to the fore - the strong yen combined with the weak stock market always exacerbates problems there. However, geopolitical concerns will underlie markets everywhere as the Iraqi situation heads toward some sort of resolution. Add to that the looming close of the third quarter and the intense scrutiny that awaits corporate results, and the future looks challenging, to say the least.

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