Financial markets always seem to confound and the current Covid-19-induced gyrations are no exception in this respect.

Who would have thought that the same high-beta stocks and sectors that dominated the long bull market from March 2009 to February 2020 would have performed so well during the ensuing collapse and subsequent recovery?

High beta stocks stocks tend to rise further than the market during bull markets and fall much further during downturns. But not in this instance. Many have continued to power on to record further gains and are now substantially higher than at the start of 2020.

Value stocks and v...