Europe shakes off doubters as stocks rally-by Angela Barnes
If you were looking at the European stock markets a year ago or more, you can be forgiven for not being wildly enthused. But what a difference a year makes.
"We kind of got into feeling a year ago that everything was a mess in Europe; the economy was never going to grow; politics were hopeless; there were structural weaknesses in the economy," said George Greig, portfolio manager with Chicago-based William Blair & Co. LLC, where a team manages the GBC International Growth Fund. A lot of that sentiment started to dispel when the European economy began to accelerate along with the global economy, he said.
So, "by the end of last year, the picture was looking very different. People were more optimistic about the [economic] cycle. They were more optimistic about politics, particularly in Germany, and more optimistic about corporate performance when they saw how well earnings had done in Europe over the last three years," Mr. Greig added.If you were looking at the European stock markets a year ago or more, you can be forgiven for not being wildly enthused. But what a difference a year makes. "We kind of got into feeling a year ago that everything was a mess in Europe; the economy was never going to grow; politics were hopeless; there were structural weaknesses in the economy," said George Greig, portfolio manager with Chicago-based William Blair & Co. LLC, where a team manages the GBC International Growth Fund. A lot of that sentiment started to dispel when the European economy began to accelerate along with the global economy, he said. So, "by the end of last year, the picture was looking very different. People were more optimistic about the [economic] cycle. They were more optimistic about politics, particularly in Germany, and more optimistic about corporate performance when they saw how well earnings had done in Europe over the last three years," Mr. Greig added.
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