Against the tide: A wall of worry is building

Money will, of course, remain cheap. Indeed, the forward market now forecasts that the Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates this year. But it has been cheap for a long time. It has already driven massive amounts into equities and reduced volatility to historical lows. In early January, the options put-to-call ratio reached levels indicating that no-one wanted to take out any insurance against equity markets falling. However, the recent turn in these indicators suggests that a wall of worry is now being built.

Fed chairman Alan Greenspan and president George W Bush are busy pumping up the leaky equity and real-estate bubbles. They can postpone their collapse but they won’t be able to blow them up any bigger.

The bulls claim improvements in US household and corporate balance sheets will ensure economic growth hits the 4.6% now predicted for 2004. True, the turnround has been dramatic. Households have gained $3.5 trillion in net worth (mainly from equities), since the lows of autumn 2002.

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