c.r.a.s.h , page-41

The Dow was in a 3 year downtrend from 2000. The S&P500 and FTSE are currently lower than heights reached in 1999. The bear market is fresh enough in the minds of US investors, the Japanese and Europeans also.

The ASX is an exception but doesn't mean that there has been an outbeak of irrational exuberance here either. Genuine structural changes have been made to the global economy that justify the market gains - though yet to see whether the resource boom will not turn to bust as it has previously.