Take Advantage of the Fear By Arne Alsin About this article: Fear and pessimism reign supreme in the corporate world right now. Enthusiasm and complacency are a distant memory. In every conference call, in every company presentation, you hear CEOs discuss only defensive, risk-averse strategies (e.g., paying down debt, laying off employees, cutting capital expenditures, accumulating cash). Not only are there no CEOs playing offense right now but there are no CEOs even talking about it. It's extraordinarily bullish, for both the economy and for investors. Implicit in this sentiment extreme is that it will be a long time (a few years, at least) before we come full circle back to enthusiasm and complacency. In addition to listening to CEOs, an easy way for investors to monitor corporate sentiment is to watch merger and acquisition activity. That we're in the early days of a bull cycle is evident by the measured, conservative nature of M&A activity. It's a... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200.

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