Investors still in shock after trauma of 2008

The rally in global equities was halted abruptly in the third quarter with stocks giving back nearly all of the gains of the past year in a matter of weeks. The surprise downgrade of US government debt by S&P seemingly precipitated the sell-off, ironically triggering a sharp rally in the government securities whose creditworthiness was downgraded, while simultaneously driving stocks and commodities lower. However, rather than the S&P downgrade, we feel the true source of equity market weakness was the signs of poor growth in the US and Chinese economies, the ongoing European sovereign...