Technology woes
In U.S equity markets, year-to-date, the value style of investing has beaten growth. In fact, value has outpaced growth since the tech debacle in 2000. We are not, of course, referring to shorter periods in the past two years in which careful timers could have made money moving in and out of some technology stocks -- for example, in the fourth quarter of last year, or taking advantage of run-ups in sub-sectors such as semi-conductors. But over the whole time span, the tech sector was one to avoid. Yet, there is lingering hope among many investors that some day soon the sun will shine on the technology sector. Its fate is of course tied to the prospects for capital spending which shows few signs of rebounding vigorously. In many cases, rich valuations are already discounting a good pickup in earnings growth. Taking a longer perspective on the tech sector, after the boom phase of the nineties and the destruction of the last two years, we are likely to see a period of
