It created a flutter, had its fair share of debates across the globe and eventually, passed us by. The dawn of 21 December, 2012 is regarded as the end-date of a 5125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar.
According to Wikipedia, a popular online encyclopedia, "The Long Count calendar identifies a day by counting the number of days passed since a mythical creation date that corresponds to August 11, 3114 BCE in the Gregorian calendar. The calendar was widely used on monuments."
One interpretation of this transition is that the date marks the start of time in which Earth and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that this day may mark the beginning of a new era.
On the other hand, some suggest that the date marks the end of the world or a catastrophic event. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world include the arrival of the next solar maximum, an interaction between Earth and the black hole at the centre of the galaxy, or Earth's collision with another planet.
For more enterprising and pragmatic mortals, however, 21 December 2012 is a non-issue. For them, it’s a question of looking the worldly Armageddon of the US fiscal cliff and problems across the euro-zone.
While 2012 made investors richer and gave enough reasons to cheer, 2013 holds promise as well. Naysayers, though, may still argue that it still could be a reality since the vote on the issue has been put off. For all the worries of a fiscal cliff debacle, several data series showed the US remained on a recovery track. Gross domestic product (GDP) in the world’s largest economy expanded at 3.1% (annual rate) in the third quarter – the fastest pace since late 2011 and more than double the second quarter's 1.3% rate, data showed Thursday.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML) recently surveyed 255 panelists with $664 billion of assets under management (AUM) and the findings suggest that a net 40% of investors believe the global economy will strengthen in the year ahead, a rise of six percentage points month-on-month (m-o-m) and double the reading two months ago.
The number of investors viewing the US fiscal cliff as the biggest tail risk has fallen to 47% from 54% in November. However, it is still the top concern. The number of asset allocators overweight US equities has fallen since November. However, allocations to the euro-zone are outweighing US allocations for the first time since November 2010.
The outlook for corporate performance has improved for the third successive month and more investors are calling for companies to raise capital expenditure, the survey states. A net 11% of investors believe profits will improve in the coming 12 months – a 22-point swing from October when a net 11% were forecasting lower profits.
As an asset class, the emerging markets could see more flows next year with China getting a decent chunk of this, analysts say. Given all this, most pundits remain cautiously optimistic on how the markets will pan out in the next calendar year. On their part, most central banks across the globe are also treading carefully while framing policies to keep the doomsday forces at bay.
Armageddon is still far away for now, at least for the markets.