Russell Investments has released its fourth quarter global outlook report, in which it forecasts growth across the US, Japan and eurozone in 2014—for the first time since 2010.

Despite some volatility, this trend is expected to drive equities towards gradual gains and put upward pressure on bond yields, the firm said. The report also notes the great risk that monetary and political policy pose in the coming year.

Russell expects low double-digit earnings growth in emerging markets in 2014. Strategists also forecast the US high-yield spread of 460 basis points and investment-grade spread of 143 basis points to sustain, with the potential for growth.

While Russell is less bullish on US equities than it was earlier in the year, it still prefers equities to fixed income in the fourth quarter. The fall in bond yields may have been overplayed, it said, with ten-year US treasury yields expected to reach 2.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 and 3.2 per cent by the fourth quarter of next year.