Opportunity in Europe?

April 27, 2015

European economic figures are now showing small but consistent improvement in economic growth. Industrial production is rising more strongly than expected, unemployment is at three year lows and economic confidence surveys now show the best figures in recent years. The European Central Bank (ECB) has commenced its massive debt security purchasing program and this combined with a weaker Euro and cheaper energy prices is stoking investor interest again.

Greek sovereign debt concerns remain but solid gains have been achieved by the Dow Jones Industrial index and Japan’s Nikkei index since the introduction of similar quantitative easing into their domestic economies. Investors will be closely scrutinizing upcoming economic statistics to ascertain whether Europe can replicate an increase in asset prices seen elsewhere.