Credit markets are vulnerable to defaulting US subprime mortgages and investors should pay more attention to signs of a possible meltdown in the US housing market, according to Andrew Freris, a chief economist for Asia Pacific for BNP Paribas, reports China’s The Standard.
There was even a possibility that a meltdown in the US property market could adversely affect Hong Kong real estate, said Freris. “I just have a feeling in my stomach. It makes me uneasy,” he said. Freris also predicted that the US will cut short-term interest rates by 25 basis points in the first quarter of 2008.