Could it be that the analysts were overwhelmingly against Brexit and allowed this prejudice to creep into their analysis of companies’ prospects?
Could it be that they bet wrongly against a Trump bounce?
It’s rather like me confessing that I found the whole gin fad incomprehensible and therefore predicting a collapse in Fevertree shares – which I very much am not.
Firms pay huge fees for the services of these analysts yet you feel that they might be better off employing the apocryphal chimpanzee with a pencil and a copy of the Financial Times.
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A pensions correction awaits
Pension tax relief is now costing £41bn a year, according to HMRC. Add that to the £91bn-plus for the state pension and you have £132bn going towards pensions every year.
That is bigger than the NHS budget of £116bn.
With politicians under increasing pressure over the performance of the NHS, the tax relief given on pensions must surely attract their attention.
You or I might think any extra spending should come with a root and branch reform of the way the NHS is managed.
Why are vast sums paid to drug companies for relatively cheap treatments?
Why are some patients left blocking beds all day while they wait for pills to be delivered before they can go home? Two friends have experienced this recently.
But no politician dares to challenge any aspect of the NHS.
So with income tax and National Insurance rises so hard to push through then a stealth attack on pensions at some stage looks increasingly likely.
Tony Hazell writes for the Daily Mail's Money Mail section
