Bernard Aybran

“Going into the new year, the Street celebrates unanimously what is meant to be a ‘reasonably positive’ year for most of the asset classes, except maybe government bonds. In other words risk tolerance nears all time highs. Thus, our balanced portfolio is reasonably well invested in equity markets, whether in Europe, the US or Japan. There are good reasons for stock markets to perform in 2006. That may be the trouble; most markets are priced for perfections and any disappointment could weigh on returns going forward. And, in the shorter run, indices cannot go on at that pace too long.”