The year ahead

HAVE you ever noticed that when 1 calendar year draws to a close and another is about to begin, stock-market pundits are often invited to make predictions about the year ahead? Many do with apparent confidence. But let's not kid ourselves. Nobody is blessed with a crystal ball.

It can also be a bit naive to think that market-moving events must somehow happen in well-defined 12-month periods. So, if we believe that Sino-US tension, China's intolerance of the powers wielded by private technology companies, and the increasingly unpredictable policies of the world's second-largest economy could be important, then why must they happen sometime between the first and last days of 2022? They could happen at any time.

Standing the heat