Why try to predict the unpredictable?

The past few years have gone by and managers invariably get close (read: lucky) to the FTSE100 spot level one year's hence or at least within a few hundred points, so the exercise has become an annual ritual whereby predictions are submitted based upon analytical data combined with, more often that not, a hunch. 2009 however presents an entirely different challenge. Throughout 2008 the FTSE100 annualised volatility measure reached unprecedented levels bringing with it massive uncertainty across the industry. Not even the most respected fund managers had any real idea of how or indeed why ...