There comes a time in every investment cycle where one asset class captures the zeitgeist. It becomes a shorthand for the market and a way of capturing everything that went on. What the railroad debentures were to the 19th century, the mutual funds and conglomerates were to the 1960s, the dot.com start-ups were to the 1990s and the hedge funds to the 2000s. What these asset classes all shared was the triumph of greed over fear the unshakeable belief in the primacy of the market and the most ineffable ingredient of financial success confidence.
As the world staggers out of the recent global financial crisis European sovereigns notwithstanding, one asset class has captured the...