The European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) recently announced QE package—wherein the bank will buy €60 billion of public and private securities a month through at least September 2016—was widely anticipated, and as such much of the impact on markets had transpired long before Thursday. While the announcement does represent a watershed moment given the ECB is…
Claims that Europe is becoming the next Japan have grown louder in recent months, after Eurozone GDP growth flat-lined in the second quarter and consumer prices increased just 0.4%, the lowest level in nearly five years. Clear parallels do exist between the current Eurozone macroeconomic environment and that which started to take shape in Japan…
Given that credit creation is the raison d’être of modern central bankers, the fact that European bank lending remains anemic despite a plethora of new measures from the European Central Bank (ECB) seems to us substantial cause for concern. The ECB’s pronouncements and alphabet soup of new programs have been remarkably effective at bringing down…
We maintain our advice to overweight European equities and underweight European bonds Macro data in Europe are slowly improving, but growth outside the Eurozone has been much stronger; corporate profits have also been lackluster but growth and/or cheaper currencies would help. European equity valuations are reasonable and reflect these weaknesses; they are attractive relative to…
European Equities: Time to Focus on the Micro European equities trade near a record historical discount to U.S. equities; potential for a turnaround in earnings and improving macro conditions further bolster the case for an overweight position. Europe has faded from the headlines in 2013 as Federal Reserve tapering, Abenomics in Japan, and a slowdown…
An extensive examination of long-term trends in U.K. equity and fixed income valuations.
An extensive examination of long-term trends and returns in U.K. equities, gilts, and Treasury bills.
U.K. property remains bifurcated, with a large spread between prices and investor interest in prime and non-prime assets. While prime prices are assuredly not cheap, we would view a further softening in capital values as a signal for long-sighted investors to top up allocations.
European equity valuations are not expensive, but political risks justify a discount and the lack of easy fixes to Europe’s sovereign debt crisis may make volatility a recurring feature of the market.
While recent efforts by European authorities to expand rescue packages for peripheral countries are a step in the right direction, market volatility is likely to remain elevated until more comprehensive solutions are put on the table.