As the day is a bit light on news and I have no idea where markets will be heading tomorrow I dusted off the crystal ball and gazed 10 years into the future. Here are some news snippets from the future, forgive me if I may be wrong a few years here and there.
Beijing:

• China's central bank raised its key lending rate 50 basis points to 7% in order to slow a wave of speculative inflows on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
• Growth in China is seen remaining above 8% p.a.; where consumer demand has become the driving force.
• 400 million newly affluent Chinese will purchase 20 million cars, by now mostly hybrids which have helped reducing urban pollution dramatically. China will export another 10 million cars this year.
• Beijing is in intensive talks with Russia about natural gas deliveries. Natural gas shot up on the news as a bidding war between China and the EU was feared.
• The Chinese navy, since 2 years the biggest in the world, conducts training missions off the Nigerian coast. Since 2005 China's share in Nigerian oil sales has risen from zero to 50%.
• Chinese officials begin to see a slowdown of the economy after 2020. Demographics show an over-aging of China's population as seen in Japan and the USA.
  

Bombay/New Delhi:

• An Indian software moghul accuses the USA of unfair trade practices and presses for WTO sanctions after his all-cash bid for Microsoft was rejected for reasons of national interest. Returning to their home country Indian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley pack not only their personal belongings but lucrative contracts for online data processing.
• Real estate in Bombay reaches new records as India's upwardly mobile middle class - numbering 400 million - flock to the world's centre of e-conomy.
• India will pour more money into solar energy, utilizing the deserts in Rajasthan and Gujarat after breakthroughs in solar energy collection make it an appealing alternative to nuclear and hydrocarbon energy.
• Gold was fixed at 104,000 rupees an ounce in what is now the biggest market for physical gold. Indian gold ETF's quickly climbed to the #1 spot in capitalization after their introduction in 2009 and now hold 7% of the world's gold.

Moscow:

• Russia will become the biggest energy provider after the collapse of the Saudi Ghawar oilfield.
• The country is awash in money from its drive to position itself as the leading source for crude, natural gas and metals.
  

London:

• Life outside the city has become a hardship in the UK. Rapidly rising energy prices and higher interest rates had led the country into a severe recession in 2007.
• Real estate prices begin to recover from the lows seen in 2011.

Brussels:

• The European Union is further opening its borders to attract African nurses for its aging population in need of care.
• The European Union starts an initiative to attract more Chinese and Indian tourists, hoping to capitalize on Europe's image as a power of the past.
• The Chinese do not only like to visit centuries old castles but have begun to buy them as well. Chinese have become the biggest buyers group of French chateaus whereas Indians have lent a push to classic British estates, enjoying the cool weather of the kingdom.

Washington/New York:

• The three presidential candidates have a common goal: shrinking bloated government. An all-time low in support for the military after two lost wars in Iraq and Iran helped the surprise alternative candidate gain in popularity who lies head-on with the Republican and the Democrat candidate.
• Washington is renegotiating its crippling foreign debt with its major lenders under the supervision of the IMF and the World Bank. Headed by a Brazilian and a Chinese after massive power struggles around 2012 the two institutions require the USA to curb its massive military spending and reduce the number of public employees.
• The Dow Jones stands at 5,000 and a dollar is worth 0.40 Euros.

More to come.