'Fear and greed' are two powerful drivers of stock markets, if the old Wall Street adage is to be believed. But how relevant is this saying in today's sophisticated financial world?
As long as investors remain human and therefore susceptible to human foibles, mispricing anomalies will continue to exist. Investors will - from time to time - neglect to, or be slow to, recognise cyclical or structural changes; they will undertake insufficient or incorrect analysis; and most likely will overreact to short-term newsflow, often in spectacular fashion. Japan's missed targets: A severe misdiagnosis? Sometimes investors' fears are deeply entrenched and slow to change, even in the face of new evidence. Having shunned Japanese equities for two decades due to low corporat...
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