The get-rich-quick spruikers seem to be on the rise again and the tone of investment newsletter peddlers is changing from selling fear (“The market is about the crash and the economy is cactus”) to greed (10 top stocks to make you money”).

As if often the case when sentiment does turn, not all that much is fundamentally different. The North Atlantic crises have not been solved, they’re just being managed for the time being. China is growing nicely, but it was growing nicely enough last year when the Chicken Littles were panicking and claiming otherwise. Japan is a definite worry, economically and politically. The domestic labour market is still soft, will remain soft and unemployment is likely to continue to edge up a bit. While business confidence has improved, business conditions have not.

The only fundamental change is looser monetary policy – the Reserve Bank’s blunt weapon beginning to be felt – and the mysterious thing that is confidence itself.