It is still way too early to tell where the United Kingdom’s new position in the overall context of the European Union will be after Brexit.

It is remarkable we didn’t get some kind of a "Lehman moment" in the markets while the pound sterling didn’t collapse either and is trading at a logic and certainly not catastrophic lower exchange rate against the major currencies and at about 10 percent less against the dollar since last Friday.

Does this mean that as a long-term investor it would be wise becoming complacent about the consequences Brexit?

I don't think so, but of course, at the end of the day everybody will have to decide for himself or herself when it comes to taking investment decisions.

Bank of England Mark Carney said: “The result of the referendum is clear.  Its full implications for the economy are not.  The UK can handle change … the decision to leave the European Union marks a major regime shift … In the coming years, the UK will redefine its openness to the movement of goods, services, people and capital.  In tandem, a potentially broad range of regulations might change. Uncertainty over the pace, breadth and scale of these changes could weigh on our economic prospects for some time.”

Carney also said: “The economic outlook has deteriorated and some monetary policy easing will likely be required over the summer … one uncomfortable truth is that there are limits to what the Bank of England can do …  through financial market and confidence channels, there are also risks of adverse spillovers to the global economy.”

The Institute for International Finance (IIF), a Washington-based organization that represents more than 500 of the world’s largest private banks, insurers, and hedge funds, now expects UK growth to contract from here on and that should result in an overall 1.2 percent growth rate for 2016 while growth should contract by 0.2 percent in 2017. The IFF also comments that the most important negative effect for the UK will be through the disruption of private investment plans, not least a start to relocation away from the U.K. in anticipation of years of uncertainty about the relationship with the EU.

ECB President Mario Draghi from his side told EU leaders that Eurozone growth might fall 0.5 percent over three years because of Brexit.

Downward pressure on growth and uncertainty will remain with us for quite some time to come, which should imply lower interest rates for (much) longer, not only in the UK and the Euro area, but also in the U.S. and other, of course not all, important places.

Interestingly and fully unrelated to Brexit, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard explained in a prepared speech why an important change in the characterization of the U.S. macroeconomic and monetary policy outlook is needed and whereby the forecasting model should deliver a “simple” forecast of key macroeconomic variables in the current regime in the U.S. and which is likely to persist over the next 2.5 years where he expects:

• Real output growth of 2 percent,
• Unemployment rate of 4.7 percent,
• Trimmed-mean personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation rate of 2 percent is expected.

In simple words, and under condition that Mr. Bullard’s ideas are put at work, interest rates in the U.S. could stay substantially lower for much longer than was until now expected.

Yes, the desperate hunt for yield in the U.S., but also in the most important places on the globe, albeit for other reasons, should go on unabated further. This quest, at least in my opinion, will cause serious long-term investment decision errors for the very simple reason that this abnormal low interest rates environment will not remain considered as normal forever.

Etienne "Hans" Parisis is a bank economist who has advised global billionaires and governments on the financial markets and international investments. To read more of his articles, GO HERE NOW.