There is a growing body of work suggesting that many developed countries will cease to roar ahead at 3%+ growth rates in the future, that instead we are likely to see a growth rate of about 2% p.a. leading to a ‘steady state’ economy.

If you look at the USA the inflation rate was only 1.9% over the decade from 2000-2010. If you strip out the 2008 recession effect it still only comes out at 2.6%. This could mean that Bernanke’s approach of effectively putting a floor on stock prices could lead to a revision irrespective of intentions.

Take a look at the picture below.

This could mean that in the future the standard P/E expectations could drop and a corresponding dividend yield increase become the natural premium or expectation of stock market investment, strangely; this will be getting back to the original reason people invested in stocks prior to the 20yr secular bull of the 80’s-late 90’s.