The euro-zone economy has undoubtedly caught some sort of bug, and investors are struggling to diagnose whether this is just a cold or a more serious case of the flu. On the one hand, business sentiment and industrial production have dropped sharply, but on the other hand consumer sentiment and spending have held up relatively…
After a decade of meager returns, U.K. small-cap equities have enjoyed a reversal of fortune in the past two years, rewarding investors that have tolerated the higher risks and lower liquidity associated with this sector. Although relatively attractive on a valuation basis, U.K. small-caps remain very much a cyclical play, vulnerable—as always—to any significant deterioration…
This analysis considers investor psychology within the larger tapestry of economic stress points and equity valuations. Although investor sentiment has sobered over the last year, it has not approached the level of despair or pessimism that typically signals capitulation at market bottoms. Optimists cite several macroeconomic indicators as reasons for their continued confidence, while pessimists…