And perhaps we are witnessing a sea change in investor attitudes.

The collapse of stocks last year, combined with the recent attacks, may be enough, in his view, to change investor attitudes for a generation.

The risk is that investor attitudes can change as more information becomes available on how Mr. Scott runs a huge company.

"German investors have demonstrated a remarkable maturity in the past year," he wrote this month, after publishing a survey of investor attitudes.

Instead, it relates to investor attitudes, and to what investors will pay for earnings.

One answer comes from investor attitudes toward companies that have pension plans.

A strong indication of changing investor attitudes emerges from the forecasts for short-term interest rates.

That fact says a lot about both investor attitudes and tax policy.

But it also reflects an investor attitude that puts little pressure on companies to make payouts.

The one policy maker who did talk for the record said that investor attitudes that stock prices could only go up may be changing.