The tenor was downbeat at a panel put together by Pensions and Investments online that included well-known Boson-based investor Jeremy Grantham. Grantham is on record as being a sceptic of the current investment climate and sees the rally from 2003 as a bear market rally in the middle of a secular bear that started in 2000.
Below is an excerpt from P&I online and a link to the full article.
Prescient experts saw gloom on horizon
P&I round table predicts any improvement in credit markets still a long way off
The credit crunch is far from over, a Pensions & Investments round table of investment experts predicted a month ago. To date, their warnings largely are coming true.
A mostly gloomy panel warned there will be further carnage in both fixed-income and equity markets, and that pension fund executives expecting average annual returns of 8% for the foreseeable future are likely to be disappointed.
The group identified one of my major concerns in lengthening this downturn: political interference.
Further complicating matters has been the public and government outcry to name a scapegoat, namely the entire financial sector, Mr. Goetzmann said. The quest for information and congressional hearings would only lengthen the crisis, further weakening the U.S. financial system and stymieing innovative ways to restructure debts and restore investor confidence, he said.