Traders blissfully unconcerned

The plummeting prices across the Atlantic came as a bit of a shock, even though for a few months investors had been expecting some kind of correction to occur at the end of a long period of low interest rates (and the end, therefore, of the glut of cheap money fuelling the surges on the stock exchanges). According to some analysts, it was the inflation forecasts – inevitably meaning hikes in the cost of borrowing and reducing the attractiveness of investments in shares – that ultimately spooked investors, as well as all the reaping of profits that has taken place over the last few months. It’s worth pointing out that US investors have not had to contend with an actual correction for over 15 months. Analysts and managers have been trying to calm investors down by assuring them that the fundamentals of the world’s largest economy remain strong: the number of people applying for unemployment benefit is now the lowest since the beginning of the 1970s and companies&r