THURSDAY’S ugly smackdown in US stock markets erased nearly all of their gains for the year, confounding the many pundits who predicted July and August would be a season of bullish complacency.Not everyone is totally comfortable with the teetering heights of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. That includes US Federal Reserve boss Janet Yellen. A fortnight ago, she pooh-poohed fears that property, shares and bonds were bubbles in peril of popping. But she warned that the social media and biotechnology sectors had attracted irrational exuberance.Valuations on some ventures mirrored the run-up to the last great hi-tech bust, and prices were due a healthy correction.The bullish camp acknowledges the pockets of froth, but counters that large biotech and social media companies are now mature and able to demonstrate their earnings potential — hence unlikely to precipitate a general market meltdown.Bulls also say appetite for hot start-ups has not dwindled. Goldman Sachs has pinpointed exactly what an...
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