joining us is jane sydenham from rathbone investment management.pwards revision of gdp in the states, and she is looking ahead to the numbers we are going to get later today. it is all looking good for the us, and we mentioned china numbers better—than—expected as well.m mentioned china numbers better-than-expected as well. it is all looking better. we all got worried in the first quarter of the year, there was a slowdown in the us and indications of that elsewhere, but it looks as though the momentum is picking up again. the consumer still seems to be spending money, which is key. the revision was related to that. and given that 70% of the us economy, that is important. and that may be why factories in china in august had a better month? absolutely. let's talk about currency quickly. this sterling— euro parity creeping closer. this is twofold, the weak pound and the strong euro, and there was hope that we might hear something from the european central bank about whether they can afford a strong euro in the longer term, but central banks don't tend