Forecasting the future in financial markets is always a tricky business, but analysts and market watchers can take some heart from the strikingly similar predictions for 2011. The latest to test its fortune-telling skills is US research house Aite Group, which agrees with its peers that regulatory uncertainty is set to hit markets in the first half of the year.

In its top ten trends for the securities and investments industry in 2011 (see chart), the Boston-based consultancy predicts that uncertainty over a new raft of financial regulations will cause a lull in activity in the first half of the year, as traders seek greater clarity.