Kames' Peden: Are markets seeing a changing of the guard?

Is the longest post-war equity bull run coming to end? Perhaps not entirely but global stockmarkets are certainly showing signs of fragility in a number of sectors.

Let's face it, there is a decent conflation of explanations out there: activity indicators in most geographic areas, excepting a still buoyant US economy, are decelerating; the most important ‘risk-free' rate in the world - the 10-year US Treasury yield - is back to a level that offers a genuinely competitive investment return again; emerging markets are struggling under the weight of a strong dollar; trade tensions refuse to defuse; Italian political shenanigans simmer in the background; and the current earnings season has started nervously at best. Oh, and it is more than 3,500 days since...