Investors remain cautious but not that pessimistic

Look at a graph of the FTSE 100 index over the last 10 years and you can see that if you lop off the bubble years of the late 1990s, we are just about back on course for a steady rise in the market. The index of leading shares slid again over the last week to near the key support level of 3,650, but bounced back quite strongly. Investors are still cautious, but considering the world economic and political outlook, they are not that pessimistic. US brinkmanship over war with Iraq continues, but there are signs that everyone does indeed want to avoid conflict, and financial markets have...