[expat_panama]

...wondering what positive economic indications underpin all this investing optimism...

One thing is the time frame; the port strike will not last 20 years.  The other thing is that not everyone's optimistic:

• 2015: The year the stock market slows to a trot - CNN Money
• A conflicted bull market may be experiencing a late-life crisis
• Why the Next Stock Market Crash Will Happen Any Day Now

We can only work with what we know, namely that right now momentum's on the upside and long term growth is an easy guess.

[abb]

Now HERE was a prudent investment!!

http://www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-fund/quote/BEARX
Federated Prudent Bear Fd A: (MF: BEARX)

Fund Description

The fund was incepted in December 1995 and is managed by David W. Tice & Associates. The fund seeks capital appreciation. The fund is a no-load mutual fund specifically designed to benefit from stock market declines as the fund has more ‘short’ than ‘long’ positions. The fund takes ‘long’ and ‘short’ positions. That is, the fund buys stocks just like most mutual funds. The fund also takes short positions and purchases put options to benefit from an anticipated decline in a stock or stock index. Currently, significant portions of long positions are gold and silver mining companies. The fund distributes dividends and capital gains, if any, at the end of each calendar year.

Total return since inception: -4.69%

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Just head on over to ZeroHedge. That will suck all the investing optimism right out of you. ;^)