M&G Equities Outlook - Jan 2002

"When winter comes, can spring be far behind?" As I write this on a cold winter's afternoon, Shelley's question sums up investor sentiment at this time. The poet seems to acknowledge that, on the one hand, the question is only rhetorical: after all, spring will inevitably arrive. Arguably this is the message of the last two months or so in equity markets. But there is also a perception that economic prospects are bleakly wintry and uncertainty over the timing and the strength of recovery could affect equities. The September attacks on America laid waste more than concrete and lives....