The longer-term outlook for equities should be broadly positive, although there could be a period of consolidation after the recent short-term rises
Last year was particularly difficult for equity markets, with concerns about global economic growth and corporate earnings being compounded by accounting irregularities and the prospect of military action in the Middle East. Over the course of 2002, the global economy showed tentative signs of recovery but the strength of the recovery fell short of investors' earlier expectations. The US economy has shown an erratic growth pattern as measured by quarterly GDP. In the US, third-quarter GDP beat expectations, with the economy growing at an annualised rate of 4%. Although the US cons...
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