Stick: Why investors should not be greedy in 2013

INCOME

Last year represented an important juncture in equity markets. As the year closed, markets hit multi-year highs, and new money embraced "risk".

As this scenario continues unchecked into 2013, we raise questions about valuation, about risk, and where, as income investors, do we now find opportunities? The final quarter in 2012 was a period when the ‘risk-on’ trade dominated, especially in the last weeks of the year. For the year as a whole, the FTSE All Share gained 12.3%, just shy of a five-year high (indeed, the S&P 500 hit multi-year highs), and this confidence abounds. But do equity valuations reflect the reality of global economic health, or are they failing to reflect inherent weaknesses?  Have equities been bid up by vi...