Focus on face-to-face meetings rather than high consumer debt

The Debate

This week's conjecture panel discusses the prospects for the market in the US

The American market has been under strain, with the economy driven by what most agree is an over-leveraged consumer. Yet there are opportunities. Fund managers Charles Martyn-Hemphill of DWS, Antony Gifford of Henderson, and Rod Wright of Pioneer Investments discuss the outlook. It seems impossible to beat the S&P 500 consistently. Why? Antony Gifford (AG): There are a number of reasons. It's the largest and most liquid index, with the most over-analysed collection of large companies around the world. Charles Martyn-Hemphill (CMH): In the mid-1990s investors realised how difficult ...