Pulling out the crystal ball is always fraught with danger… So I have closed my eyes and here we go: 

ARIES
Australian Shares
The Australian share market still provides a good medium term investment opportunity. Over the past year, companies have taken the opportunity to cut costs and wind back debt levels, which should support profit growth as the economy recovers.

TAURUS
Emerging Markets
Likely to be the key driver of any global economic recovery. It is anticipated that countries like China, India and Indonesia will record strong economic growth in 2010 and beyond.

GEMINI
Developed Markets
Developed economies like the US, Japan and Europe are likely to record positive growth in 2010 after contracting over the past 18 months. To date these countries’ share markets have underperformed developing or emerging markets, and with a return to growth, the company profit outlook should improve and attract investor inflows.

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It has been memorable to say the least!

• Here is a brief overview of what has happened & how this downturn compares to previous ones:
• Australian shares are going to post a negative return in excess of 20.00%. For the most part, all sectors performed very poorly and no share market around the world was spared.
• January & February in particular, saw fear reach epidemic levels. There was the near meltdown of the global banking systems including the failure of Lehman Brothers.

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