Equity markets prime driver of returns with markets on the brink

What an extraordinary six months it has been for equity markets, with the FTSE World Index having risen by nearly 50% from the depths of despair in early March.

Once again, buying stocks when the economy was at its low point has been the correct strategy although with investors facing potential financial Armageddon, this would have been an extremely tough call for even the most experienced of investors. As one of the most respected investors of recent times, the late Sir John Templeton once said, ‘Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on scepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria.’ The current bull market or bear market rally (depending on your point of view) was certainly born on pessimism, with the world economy suffering an unpr...