The trend is your friend but beware the bend

IT'S interesting to see how quickly the market has revised its thinking. Just before the Nov 8 US elections - and even on the day itself, when the Dow futures crashed 1,000 points after a Trump win looked inevitable - it was unanimously thought that if Donald Trump did actually win, it would be disastrous for the economy, earnings and stocks. And market prices fell to reflect the gloomy view.

Yet when the market quickly bounced back - probably the courtesy of heavy rounds of short-covering - and gained momentum as oil prices firmed, the tune of the consensus was suddenly changed to explain the market's seemingly anomalous reaction.

After all, it was thought, if stocks are rising sharply, there must be reasons and the faster these are found, the better it makes the experts look.