us equities:Fighting the fear

Even after falling 2% on Friday, the S&P 500 index of US stocks is still up 7% since October 2005. But the decline was still a sign that the world is looking a little less friendly to investors. It was not so long ago that US equity investors were feeling fretful. For most of 2005, steady increases in overnight interest rates weighed heavily on equities despite double-digit corporate profit growth and flat long-term bond yields. The US stock market badly lagged those in Europe, Japan and most e...