Salient to Investors:

  • The FTSE 100 Index is within 0.1% of its 1999 high, after which it fell for 3 years,
  • The cost of hedging against losses in the FTSE 100 is close to a 2-year high.
  • Alan Higgins at Coutts is not overweight UK equities and said the FTSE 100 still lags most markets.
  • Economists forecast UK GDP will grow 3.1% in 2014 versus 1% for the euro area.
  • The FTSE 100 is up 96 percent since its low in March 2009 and at 14.3 x estimated earnings versus 15.5 x for the Stoxx 600.
  • The average analyst predicts FTSE 100 profits will rise 19% in 2014.
  • Derek Mitchell at Royal London Asset Mgmt said UK shares can grind higher as the Ukraine conflict is easing, we already know that interest rates are going up, and everything that the BOE has said suggests it is going to be very slow.
  • Tim Rees at Insight Investment Mgmt said we are stuck again on the upper ceiling that the market is finding hard to break.

 

Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-04/u-k-stocks-high-enough-to-hedge-as-rally-draws-skeptics.html

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