**all ord's chart..wow wow**, page-8

I think this article from The Age sums the situation up pretty well.

Market ripe for pickers
By Malcolm Maiden
June 17, 2005

Remember back in April and May when you were hearing that the two-year bull run was over, and shares were set to plunge?

It didn't happen because corporate earnings and dividends are still strong, despite the economic softening we've seen in the first half of the year.

Earnings are only slightly below last year's record highs, and the national share of corporate profits in the economy is also still close to a record high.

And before the market got nervous in April, profits were reasonably priced.

Ahead of the selling, shares were being priced at about 14.5 times expected earnings, virtually bang on the 10-year average.

There are still lots of people out there who worry about the US current account deficit, and other brain-busting problems. The deficits are certainly big - but the US current account has been a "problem" for a quarter of a century, and the US has continued to be the world's No.1 investment destination. Day to day, simpler maths apply - and when shares begin to be valued at below-average prices, people step in and buy them. That's what happened after prices fell in April and May. Quite predictable, despite the bleatings of the Hanrahans.

That is not to say that shares need to surge even higher now that the market has corrected. The case for big price increases isn't compelling at this point, either.

Earnings expectations have been wound back a bit, so the market is now valued at about 15.5 times earnings. It's a stock picker's market, as it has been all year: individual companies are being bought and sold rather than the market as a whole.

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