The time to be greedy is drawing near

By Mark Westwood, manager of the UK Growth fund at Legg Mason The FTSE 100 Total Return index plunged 9.4% in January, a fairly inauspicious start to the year, and has almost halved from its high at the end of 1999. With president Bush beating the war drum, the geopolitical situation has clearly been unhelpful for equities. The prospect of war with Iraq has caused an increase in the equity risk premium and prompted a spike in oil prices. Higher oil prices increase costs for companies, which are already suffering from relatively weak earnings growth, and decrease consumers' real pur...