The last 12 months have brought a series of challenges to investors. In particular, concerns about sovereign indebtedness in the periphery of Europe mounted throughout the period and escalated dramatically during June. The afflictions of the main protagonist, Greece, have threatened to affect other parts of the eurozone and its banking system, and have resulted in sharp rises in those countries' government borrowing costs, in addition to a series of government bail-outs, as well as heightened volatility in financial markets.

In addition, investors have been unsettled by unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, by the supply chain-related disruption wrought by Japan's natural disaster, by recent signs of a slowing in the rate of economic growth in the major regions, and by the influence of rising food, commodity and energy prices on rising inflation.