This year's lumps of coal could be 2018's diamonds

San Francisco

INVESTORS saddled in 2017 with the market's worst performers, including Under Armour and General Electric (GE), may do well to remember as December draws to an end that lumps of coal sometimes turn into diamonds.

As investment advisers rebalance clients' portfolios in the final weeks of the year, the instinct to dump stocks that have been left behind in surging markets - or that fall out of favour with analysts - can be self-destructive.