In the two years since Lehman Brothers imploded, consumption in the US has gone absolutely nowhere - it still has not returned to precrisis levels. Ditto for Europe. Ditto for Japan. But compared to precrisis (3Q08) levels, consumption in Asia is up by 18%.

Eighteen percent? Hold on a minute. This is Asia - the place that everyone said had to consume more. The place that could only save and could only export. The place that could not possibly grow unless the US was growing because the US was doing all the buying.

Yet there it is. Zero buying in the US. Zero buying in Japan and in Europe. And a boatload of buying in Asia. It's the immaculate recovery - the thing that everyone said could never happen. The pregnant Asian shopper standing next to an utterly superfluous US, JP and EU.

That's why Asia's central banks will be back in tightening mode soon - because Asia's recovery is not about the US. It's about Asia. And there's nothing fishy and certainly nothing religious going on here. The hard fact and simple arithmetic (that we've shown regularly over the past 4-5 years) is that Asia has been growing rapidly for years and, after a few decades, it adds up: Asia is no longer too small to matter. Among other things, this means Asia can and will consume whether the G3 does or not. And it means Asia's monetary policies will depend more on what happens here in Asia and less on what happens elsewhere in the world.

Eoin Treacy's view We have been highlighting the two-tier nature for the global economy for years. Since the bulk of financial commentary investors have access to has a decidedly G3 perspective it is easy to overlook the massive growth story that permeates the majority of Asia, particularly its major population centres. For much of Asia deflation is of scant concern since they are more focused on nascent inflationary pressures.

Monetary normalisation has been slowed by concerns about the US, European and Japanese economies but widening interest rate differentials are a reality which is helping to support the region's currencies, especially since China decided to allow a gradual strengthening of the Yuan.

The Asian Dollar Index found support near 109 in July and has since sustained a progression of higher reaction lows. It is now testing the April high near 113 and a sustained move below the 200-day MA would be required to question medium-term upside potential.