Investors should focus on healthy cashflows

Although markets have suffered so far this year, there has been some respite of late, with better than expected US third-quarter earnings

Operating in the UK equity market through the summer was a sobering experience. The phrase just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water springs to mind, as each successive rally was thwarted by unremitting bad news on several fronts. Going into the autumn, gloom was widespread, and the market fell to its lowest level in five years. However, in the past two weeks, there has been some respite: US third-quarter corporate earnings generally beat heavily downgraded expectations, encouraging investors to switch out of overvalued bonds into equities, and George Bush's proposal ...