Contrarian Investor: Can equities retain their festive cheer?

As global stockmarkets reach record highs, investors are left with a quandary as we tiptoe into 2017.

Is this the last deluded hurrah of a bull market giddy with enthusiasm but ignoring fundamentals? Or, as one note from late December (from Barings on property) puts it succinctly, "a maturing but extended cycle" for risky assets? My sense is PIMCO has caught the mood of the market well by describing the current environment as "stable but not secure", with a key imperative being capital preservation for many investors. That said, there does seem to have been a general shift towards allocating extra pounds and dollars to riskier assets, as evidenced by those advances seen in the benchma...