Clouds have silver linings for some. In the turbulent world of today the markets can have a topsy-turvy feel about them, as serious levels of political and security strife translate into a boon for safe-haven assets, and what might seem debilitating economic malaise actually provides the basis for further ratcheting of stock and bond prices generally.

Thus, on the one hand, the US dollar and counterparts, including the pegged GCC currencies, gain strength (Treasuries likewise), and, on the other, traders remain convinced that any signs of weakness in the stuttering rebounds of the leading economies will mean that central banks will maintain the easiest policy stance imaginable.

Bad news is good news, and all that. Of course, it’s not so straightforward when nervousness becomes severe, with an underlying uncertainty prevailing over the degree of advances already seen by benchmark indices, and the doubtful credibility of economic strategies that depend mainly on perpetual stimulus. Investors need special, local stories, as in the Gulf, to maintain confidence.

Unlike in much of the rest of the world, for instance, the persistence of oil prices in excess of $100 (Dh367) a barrel acts as a regional panacea, enabling financial comfort to drive economic momentum and buoy the banking system, reversing the transmission mechanism preoccupying Western blocs.

As QNB advised in a recent commentary, “overall the GCC provides a strong macroeconomic operating environment for the banking sector to flourish. High hydrocarbon prices support revenue streams for project spending and surplus foreign assets. This should continue to support lending and asset growth for the top banks ... [keeping] the GCC well insulated from the turmoil.”

It’s a backdrop that would naturally be beneficial to local investors in stocks, regardless of the prolonged period of cheap money. MSCI’s index for the GCC countries shows not only a 30.1 per cent increase for the year to date (end-August), but a 15.5 per cent annualised rate of return in the past five years.

The earnings performance behind those outturns gives significant comfort, too. Research firm Markaz found corporate results showing an 11 per cent improvement year-on-year in the first half of the year, with strong outturns led by banks and financial services. The outlook for the second half was likely to be retained, it suggested, anticipating a 10 per cent figure for 2014 as a whole.

“Implementation of structural reforms in Saudi Arabia, major changes in corporate law offering a conducive environment to conduct business in Kuwait, and execution of infrastructural projects in anticipation of hosting Dubai Expo 2020 and Fifa World Cup 2022 in UAE and Qatar respectively are expected to support earnings growth,” it advised.

So no clouds apparently on the horizon, either. Within the region itself, economic growth has sufficient characteristics of investment orientation and structural overhaul to warrant systemic re-rating by analysts and portfolio managers — beyond the overriding impulsion provided by the extended cyclical upturn and the facets of momentum that accompany it.

Perhaps, then, it is only the surrounding context — of the world economy and markets, and political and security issues — that need trouble observers, in case global conditions take a turn for the worse and catch everyone in their wake.

On that score, the main item of the past week has been the European Central Bank’s step closer to outright quantitative easing, following the well-worn path trodden by the US, Japan and UK. The markets have revelled in this act of near-desperation, so that Europe’s malady is met by yet further advances in equities and fixed-income.

The dollar responds upon the switch from euros, according to a combination of income differentials, the demand and supply shifts represented by central bank balance sheets, and quite possibly the sheer, prospective growth narratives of the counterpart blocs. Gold slips (in dollar terms) by dint of being the flip side of the currency equation. And oil treads water, uncannily range-bound amid the mayhem.