The end of the Federal Reserve's rate tightening cycle, when it comes, is shaping up to be a tipping point for big money investors, possibly boosting US stocks, and easing pressure on bonds.
It could also reignite the dollar's decline by removing one of the main reasons for its recent strength.
All three moves would have significant impacts on investment in Europe and elsewhere, with a stronger euro hurting euro zone company competitiveness and more attractive US assets draining domestic and foreign money from abroad.
Some appetite for US assets has already been rekindled this month, although for the most part large investors are still keeping their exposure to US stocks and bonds relatively low.
In its latest fund manager survey, for example, investment bank Merrill Lynch found that global investors are clearly bullish about equities as a whole but that a significant majority is negative about US stocks.
The S&P 500 has gained around 1.5 percent in the year to date compared with nearly 18 percent for Europe's FTSEurofirst 500 and even more in Japan.
But the same survey - noting that "the darkest hour is before the dawn" - suggested that some investors were gearing up for a return to US markets.
It reported a jump for the second month in a row in the number of investors who say they are planning to add exposure to US equities.
In a similar vein, Reuters asset allocation poll taken at the end of October showed US and continental investors raising their holdings of US stocks and bonds.
All this has been reflected on financial markets. In the month to date, it is the previously poor-performing Nasdaq that has been a leader among major stock indexes, racking up around 3.5 percent in gains compared with some 2 percent for the FTSEurofirst and 2.2 percent for Japan's Nikkei.
The spread between yields on the 10-year Treasury bond yield and the Bund has tightened in the month, with the latter underperforming. The dollar has galloped ahead, leaving the euro down nearly 3 percent.
It remains to be seen whether this mini-love affair with US assets - perhaps simply a reaction to the poor performances in October - continues.
But there is little doubt that the eventual ending of the Fed's tightening cycle - generally expected in the middle of next year - will have a significant impact on investor strategies on a host of investments.
US equities, for example, could get a fillip once the headwinds of higher rates dissipate.
"Long term, we are bullish (on US equities) because earnings prospects are solid and we expect the Fed will complete its tightening programme between 4.50 percent and 4.75 percent by mid-2006," wealth manager Citigroup Private Bank told its clients this week.
"Stocks historically tend to perform well once the Fed stop raising rates."
But the caveat from the bank and others is that it all depends on why the Fed stops hiking. If it is because inflation is benign as growth continues, then equities should benefit.
If, on the other hand, the Fed is forced to stop because of slumping growth, stocks would become buffetted by new headwinds.
The dynamic facing US Treasuries would also change, with a Fed halt, particularly if inflation is under control.
Bond yields have backed up in the cycle to more than 4.5 percent, making them at the very least a better deal than they were, even if they may still present investment risks.
"Value is starting to return in the market but yields have the scope to go higher," said David Shairp, global strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. "There is a lot less downside to the US bond market than there was three or four months ago."
The impact on US bonds of the end of Fed tightening could be exacerbated if, as expected, the European Central Bank begins its own policy of raising rates.
Bond investors could jump from the euro zone to the United States, as recent yield performances have suggested.
The dollar, meanwhile, has been rising sharply against many major currencies, particularly the euro, after a three year tumble. The spurt is widely put down to the rate differential between the United States and the euro zone, currently two percentage points.
That would change if the Fed stopped hiking and the ECB began, although the spread is likely to widen before this point is reached.
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