I read a briefing note written by Merrill Lynch recently which suggested investors could be approaching an “attractive entry point” for equities and other risk assets following the recent sell off.

It said: “Over the medium-term, we continue to recommend investors own assets tied to healthy corporate balance sheets, such as best of breed equities and corporate bonds, rather than assets tied to government and consumer balance sheets, such as sovereign debt and banks.

“Fixed income securities may prove to be only a temporary safe haven . . . structurally we continue to favour equities that deliver growth, quality and yield as well as commodities such as oil, copper and gold.”

But even the bravest of investors balk at the prospect of venturing into equities on anything other than a limited basis, preferring to heed Merrill’s advice and buy gold. But even here, there are signs gold’s popularity is beginning to wane.

Recently, managers at Walker Crips UK Growth fund announced that they had banked profits on around a quarter of their gold holdings and recycled the proceeds into the shares of companies exposed to overseas earnings.

Usefully for investors, the managers bought the fund’s gold in June 2007 when the price stood at $730 per troy ounce — they sold once it hit $1,855.

They revealed they have invested the proceeds into a number of UK shares likely to profit from continued demand for commodities, not least because: “ . . . gold looked a relatively crowded trade and we . . . have some concerns about European sovereign debt, but think most of that bad news is embedded in the price of equities.”

Significantly, the profit has been used to boost existing holdings in industrial specialists Weir Group and Fenner and to add to the fund’s position in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

Though Walker Crips remain optimistic about the prospects for further growth in emerging economies, its UK Growth fund is actually avoiding many UK-facing domestic stocks.

“The last place we want to be is in stocks exposed to the UK economy,” management told Citywire.

Of course, investors need not be hidebound by the same terms as a fund manager’s often limited geographical brief, but it is worth noting Walker Crips’ comments and the irony in its absolute opposition to buying UK-facing stocks for the UK Growth fund.

Of course, the consequences of prolonged stock market uncertainty have been severalfold, many of which are becoming increasingly evident.

A sizable number of investors have opted to hold cash or Premium Bonds, sales of which are currently soaring. Others continue to buy gold, even at worryingly inflated levels.

But a determined number are keen to focus on buying high-quality shares across a variety of international markets at what could be historically low prices, so reviving memories of what became known as America’s ‘nifty fifty’ in the 1960s and 1970s.

The ‘nifty fifty’ was a collection of US blue-chip stocks that became popular after they were perceived as offering significantly better growth in earnings than the rest of the market.

And so it proved for many years as companies including Polaroid, American Express and Disney enjoyed strong balance sheets and double-digit growth rates.

But by 1972-73 the shares became massively over-valued and their prices crashed with the rest of the market.

The episode proves that while global ‘super stocks’ boasting strong balance sheets and impressive earnings growth do exist, they should not be bought at any price. One man’s ‘attractive entry point’ can still scream ‘too risky’ for more cautious investors.