US

Janus US High-Yield heads say research is key to the fund's management strategy

Recent months have seen a big improvement in investor sentiment. So where does the US market go from here and what will drive it?

Hedge-fund guru John Paulson, who pocketed about £280m in shorting RBS during the financial crisis, has taken out a $2.2bn long position in Bank of America.

Equity markets have clearly benefited from a dramatic shift in investor sentiment since early March - when the prevailing fear was that what had been a painful recession could escalate into an even more painful and longer-lasting depression.

The S&P 500 hit a low of 677 on 9 March 2009 but has since recovered strongly.

BlackRock CIO Bob Doll believes the US rally is gradually maturing into a more fundamental recovery following the best two consecutive weeks for the equity markets in nearly a decade.

The strong Wall Street rally between March and May reflected relief among investors that the official policy response to the crisis had prevented a repeat of the Great Depression.

From where we sit at the half-way point of the year, it seems that to advocate an argument on whether the market is bullish or bearish is as finely balanced as it has been for a long time.

The Waxman-Markey bill, passed at the end of last month, sets out the basis for a new negotiating stance and will boost prospects for reaching an agreement in Copenhagen in December, without having to wait for US approval

Seismic changes in the way the US tax authorities intend to tax the returns on American senior-citizen-based life settlement funds have caught many fund managers on the hop