As a matter of interest, a long view on short odds THE Reserve Bank's policy of lower interest rates looks likely to provide the best short-term chance of improved corporate earnings to justify the high prices among some of our industrial stocks, according to Toby Lewis, investment strategist at Citibank Private Wealth. "Cuts in interest rates should produce increased earnings in interest-rate-sensitive stocks with high borrowings and high depreciation," he said, qualifying that by noting the impact would be lessened once interest rates started to turn, quite possibly later this year.