As you may have figured out from my recent commentary, I am a lot more bullish on global markets than I was just two weeks ago. I feel that we have passed a very important stage in this credit crisis and that the panic phase is over — hopefully for good.
I do not think stock markets generally are a buying opportunity given price-earnings ratios in the U.S. and many other advanced economies. However, stock markets have been deeply oversold for some time. In addition, investors have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. All stocks have declined generally, leading to major losses for both good investments and poor investments. There are many stocks and bonds that value investors should be snapping up with relish.
So, while I do not think we have seen the end to this secular bear market and while I do think we will see many writedowns and bankruptcies to come, I also recognize that there many bargains to be had in both equity and credit markets. For the time being, you might even call me bullish.