A trade for 2012: sell Europe, buy the US

It's been some year. Stock markets across the globe have performed woefully. Developed markets did better than emerging ones, but the fact is your money would have been better off in a savings account than in the average index tracker this year. Gold did well – it peaked mid-year, but in terms of annual performance, it still thrashed just about any other asset class around. And the defensive stocks we've been tipping all year have done well. Neil Woodford's Edinburgh Investment Trust (LSE: EDIN) - which invests mainly in those sorts of stocks – is up around 7% on the year, including dividends, which beats both inflation and the wider market. So what lies ahead for 2012? And what should you be buying now?