Asset Allocators' Soapbox: is this the silence after the storm?

While economic fundamentals remain weak and a backdrop of deleveraging is expected to continue for some time, there is a strong case for investors to be more upbeat about their investment prospects today compared to this time last year. With two of the three major macro risks of 2012 – European sovereign debt and China – starting to ease, the price of equities more or less adequately reflecting the economic stresses brought on by the financial crisis, and central bank support likely to be strong for the foreseeable future, we should start to see a more positive attitude toward risk asset...