Neil Birrell: Look to distinguish operating and share price performance

2018 was a year of many contrasts in financial markets and sentiment ranged from extreme optimism to considerable pessimism. Optimism abounded at the very start of the year with equity markets running hard even though they looked expensive in the belief the economic cycle was intact and money would remain plentiful and cheap. Optimism gave way to concerns over policy tightening but then the technology and healthcare sectors rose to extraordinary levels on another wave of optimism. As the year ended, however, pessimism became the watchword and share prices fell hard. Nevertheless, it i...