"Binging on pork is not improving your diet, much better if Chinese stick to soya beans and lots of Le Gaga vegetables Indians of the bourgeoisie are already dropping like flies from diabetes and heart conditions. China is next."

Eoin Treacy's view Thank you for this thoughtful email. I agree that the plague of the middle classes is that as incomes expand so do waist lines. As incomes rise what were once seen as treats to be consumed at festivals quickly become every day conveniences. Treats by there nature are often laced with sugar and this is helping to stoke a diabetes pandemic. (Also see Comment of the Day on November 8th).

NovoNordisk, a European dividend aristocrat, remains in a consistent medium-term uptrends, defined a progression of rising reaction lows. Such has been the scale of the advance, that the 100-day MA has been an appropriate trend mean for the last two years. A sustained move below DKK625 would begin to question the consistency of the uptrend while a sustained move below DKK600 would probably signal that a peak of at least medium-term significance has been reached.

More generally, the outperformance of healthcare sectors across Asia is a central theme to the rise of the middle classes. As incomes increase, so does the ability to pay for medical treatment. The corollary of course is that the middle classes also suffer from diseases that are often expensive to treat. The Singapore, Thai, Indian and Chinese healthcare sectors all exemplify this trend. In addition, the cutting edge of medicine is well represented among the leaders on the Nasdaq. (Also see Comment of the Day on January 20th).