equities

As most global stock markets have been on a tear of late, we thought it would be timely to ask readers what posed the greatest threat to equity markets. Over 37% of the 974 respondents to this poll believe that a global economic slowdown is the greatest risk to stocks.

David Larrabee, CFA, rounds up the most interesting reads for equity investors from the last couple weeks.

Antoine van Agtmael argues that an industrial renaissance in the United States is eroding the competitive edge of emerging markets.

Jason Trennert of Strategas offers his sometimes contrarian outlook for equity markets while sharing insights on the European currency crisis and the prospects for inflation.

Timing the sale of a security is arguably the most important aspect of any successful investment strategy, and the only true, unbiased indicator of where a security should be trading is information itself. That said, there is still value in using price targets.

A recent study designed to decipher the “black box” of sell-side analyst decision making sheds new light on the driving forces behind two important outputs of their work: earnings estimates and stock recommendations.

Although historically one of the leading strategies in the hedge fund world, long/short equity has recently underperformed other venues for hedge fund investment. What does the futture hold?

Michael L. Mayo, CFA, discusses the state of corporate governance in the financial industry, whether he expects to see more shareholder activism when it comes to the big banks, and how breaking up the mega-banks would unlock value for shareholders.

Capital markets reform in mainland China, together with new cross-strait initiatives, are giving rise to considerable optimism that the investment services industry in Greater China is entering a bright new era.

Gerry Fowler, CFA, shares some of this thoughts on the outlook for 2013.