Investing just got a lot harder

LAST week's column discussed the likelihood that markets would find the transition from "bad economic news is good for stocks" to "good economic news is good for stocks" difficult and probably protracted because the former has been in force for so long and everyone has gotten so used to it that letting it go would be painful.

The difficulty in making this shift was clear last week, with the Straits Times Index (STI) falling every single day and with Wall Street displaying nothing in the way of inspiration or direction.

Until the US Federal Reserve's December Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting is completed and provided that 1) there is an interest rate hike and 2) the Fed provides clear guidance on how much it expects to raise rates from then onwards, we would expect markets to remain volatile, unsure and basically weak.