Festive season could hold a few surprises

Reminiscence is not a strong suit of most investors. Anyone still standing at the end of this last year deserves respect, but in the bars of Leadenhall, they talk of almost anything else. Re-living the excited disbelief of early March, as TMT stocks floated higher on pure oxygen, or the dread of October, when valuations lurched lower with each indicator or result, is not the style of the City. Talk is all of the future. Nothing too long term, though. The next six months is about as far as City visibility goes at the moment. But the mood is rather jolly. Last year's millennium bonuses woul...