Jeffrey: Super-normal returns won't be repeated this year

COMMENT

Some market aphorisms work better than others. ‘Sell in May…' is probably the best known, and beloved of equity brokers who are in the process of booking their long summer holidays.

‘Better to travel than to arrive’ has no fixed calendar position and refers to an investor preference for anticipating rather than actually experiencing something pleasurable. ‘Sell in May…’ is quite often a sensible investment strategy; ‘better to travel…’ depends on the degree of certainty markets are able to ascribe to their expectations. Even on the assumption investors do have the wherewithal to buy assets that are reasonably attractively priced, at some stage their prior hopes have to be validated. So, this is where we find ourselves at the start of 2014. Western equity markets ...