Resurrection of the Yell directory flotation is another bullish sign. And James Foster, the famously anti-equity bond manager for Isis Asset Management, has said: "Now's the time to be buying equities."It seems even the bedraggled European Union may be prepared to absorb hard investment facts. Some of its absurd legislation that could have destroyed the junior and highly successful alternative investment market (AIM) may be watered down. Early days yet, but, for once, signals from Brussels are more encouraging.AIM had a further boost when Nasdaq abandoned Europe.

The US share market, with its hi-tech constituents, intends to concentrate its endeavours in its own back yard. Its retreat across the Atlantic means its Nasdaq Europe share market is finished. Nasdaq "invaded" Europe in 2001 when it acquired the Brussels-based Easdaq share facility with the aim of duplicating its hi-tech US share market.With Germany's once-vaunted Neuer Market consigned to history, AIM goes from strength to strength. Why has it succeeded when competitors failed? I think it is AIM's refusal to become a slave to hi-tech shares. Its range of constituents - from almost every walk of commercial life - provides the sound foundation its rivals lacked.. What a saggy stock market. The poor old FTSE just can't keep up momentum beyond the 4,000 mark Lack of confidence, everyone says True.

So here's an idea that might just help get the retail investor interested again in the stock market; let people buy shares What a saggy stock market. You will still find it more difficult, as an individual, if you want to get in on more promising flotations.The latest lock-out is Yell. You may recall that the clowns down at BT decided to flog their lucrative directories business, Yellow Pages, a few years ago to our old friends the venture capitalists, in this case Apax partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst .The venture capitalists stand to double their money if Yell floats at the mid-price of 275p. They, and the senior management of Yell, seem to have done well out of the stewardship of the company.Naturally, the questions arise why they're selling now and what, if anything, is in it for the new owners of the business? I wouldn't really like to be rude about it because I don't know enough about Yell, although the fact that Yell is probably big enough to go into the FTSE 100 should be worth something, given the number of index funds that will have to grant it a properly weighted space in their portfolio.Even if I did have a settled view, we wouldn't be able to do much about it because, true to form, this huge (£2bn-plus) flotation is open only to institutional investors. To see why this matters, think what an effect a successful float of this size might have had on nervous private investors.Lots of publicity, plenty of excitement, a reminder that yes the stock market is still out there, companies still need to raise money and there are still businesses that offer a profitable return, long or short term. Just think of all that stagging.Perhaps not that many individuals would have indulged, but perhaps it would have made a few more think about getting back into the market in a modest way, or at least not cancelling their pension subscriptions.It would have given the impression that the market is not (quite) dead, which would be worth a bit to the hard-pressed financial services industry. But that will not happen.Now, I would be the first to admit the potential drawbacks of a public float for Yell.

Like the great privatisation in the 1980s the tendency is for people to see equity investment as a simple way of making a fast buck in a couple of weeks, which is, on the whole, not quite the right way of looking at it.Yell might, in fact, be a rotten business and those who bought and held might have found themselves with losses in the future, which would have been a counterproductive exercise. Yell is not, despite its BT origins, some steady utility with plenty of scope for cost-cutting. Taking the point of view of the City, the risks are much more on the other side, that confidence takes so long to return the lack of it becomes self-perpetuating, and quickens the tendency to deflation in the economy.That is not the responsibility of Apax partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, but it would be nice to think that someone in this important industry had thought about the wider consequences. Would I buy Yell? Not even if they gave me a chance.Now I think of it, this week has provided yet another apparently good reason for people to avoid the stock market, or at least a good chunk of it. Why would anyone want to buy shares in food companies when the chances are that they will be sued out of existence, or at least profitability? Of course, this is just a sectoral phenomenon you will tell yourself, and one confined to a few high-profile villains at that: Philip Morris (Kraft lunchables as well as Marlboro cigarettes), Cadburys, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Pepsico and so on.Yet who would have thought such a situation possible even a few years ago when litigation seemed confined to big tobacco? From cars to telecoms you can think of reasons to sue, and people have. But can anyone think of a reason to invest?s.ogrady independent.co.uk.