SUBSCRIBERS

Real threats to US equity bull market are human

Current low volatility is a function of expected corporate earnings and interest rates

Wed, Sep 27, 2017 - 5:50 AM

Bull markets should be big and broad. This one isn't, with stocks such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google responsible for close to a third of the S&P 500's move this year.

PHOTO: REUTERS

THE current move higher for US stocks may look like a bull market, but it shares few characteristics with an actual bull. The real risks are entirely human and centre on how investors factor long-term uncertainty into asset prices.

One example is the "ageing bull" objection: Stocks have...