With recent reports on falling markets, it's not hard to
imagine many people being concerned about their investments,
particularly with the memory of 2008/09 still very fresh in our
minds.
Globally, the appetite investors have for risk has significantly
fallen since late April, which has seen global sharemarkets fall by
around 18% (at 9th August am), although yesterday and today the
Australian market has moved up again and overnight the U.S. market
moved up sharply. For the most part, the falls have been a reaction
to the building concern for the slow but sure spread of the
European debt crisis and the recent US debt situation. In both
cases, the delay in action by policy makers has taken its toll
(most recently you will have seen the political football that saw
President Obama's debt deal agreed on the last possible day).
There is also concern around the weak economy in the U.S. and what
the impact of budget cuts and potential tax increases may do to
growth.
