Kames' Haworth: How far can this bull market run?

S&P 500 up every month in 2017

"Are we there yet?" - the familiar refrain of young children well before the end of a journey might equally be asked by investors as this bull market enters its tenth year.

For much of that time, profit growth was elusive and confidence fragile - it was the most hated of bull markets.  That is now changing. Global profit growth was an impressive 19% in 2017 and capex intentions have reached an 11-year high. The S&P 500 was up every month of last year, the first time ever, signalling that investors' trepidation towards the equity asset class has also abated. How long can the equities bull market last? Bull markets end when such confidence becomes over-exuberant, generating imbalances and egregious valuations. We are not there yet. Capex and M&A levels ...