Negativity in the press ...

Mark Dampier, Head of Research at Hargreaves Lansdown, writes "it is now my 30th year in the investment industry, and during that time investors have been consistent in writing off their own stock market. Perhaps it's because we see more news on the UK economy, and the press tends to focus on the negative aspects."

Brokerage Reports - and their dangers ...

Bear in mind that large, popular stocks are subject to more frequent unexpected price moves as analysts' reports are published - the more widely covered a stock is, the more likely a forecast will come as a shock

Fear and Greed ...

Bear in mind - fear does not invariably relate to having to take a loss - there is also the fear of being left out, of missing an opportunity, in which case it is not the opposite to greed, in this case they co-exist ...

Here's a challenge for traders .... [re the Nobel Prize for Economics]

(Reuters) - Three American scientists won the 2013 economics Nobel prize on Monday for research that has improved the forecasting of long term asset prices, a hot topic since the collapse of the U.S. housing market bubble prompted a global financial meltdown.

"There is no way to predict the price of stocks and bonds over the next few days or weeks," The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in awarding the 8 million crown (781,885 thousand pounds) prize to Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert Shiller.

"But it is quite possible to foresee the broad course of these prices over longer periods, such as the next three to five years. These findings ... were made and analyzed by this year's Laureates," the academy said.