As I sit down to write this article, the FTSE100 is comfortably over the 6000 level, and at its highest for nearly five years. Could it be that the market-makers feel that the woes of the last few years are all behind us? Well, probably not. However, things are looking much better than they did 12 months ago. I guarantee that there will be upsets, but a Fund Manager I spoke with a few days ago told me how he is looking forward to the occasional upsets in the markets nearly as much as the prospect of some decent gains. He says it is like “going to the sales!”
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Tag Archives: eurozone
Balmy not Barmy
I closed my last article with thoughts of a “balmy Spring” and as I write, the sun is beating down and, at last, the weeks of rain and drizzle – that have plagued us since the official announcement of a drought – are over (for the time being anyway). Alas, despite a favourable upturn in the weather, there has been no such happy outcome for the UK stock market. The gains that have been accumulated since January have evaporated, since the renewed troubles in the Euro-zone and the elections in Greece and France. It seems like the theme of volatility, that followed us through last year, may well be one that stays with us for 2012 and into next year too!
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Unknown Unknowns
As we start to settle into the New Year, and wish each other well for 2012, it is easy – when minds wander – to wonder what might happen over the next 12 months. The last year was full of uncertainty, and it seems there is no reason to think that this year will be any different. As far as financial matters are concerned, we are no more settled than we were last January, and within reason, anything could happen. Who would have imagined the changes that have occurred in the Middle East, for instance?
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The Whistler 