Risks are shifting: from stocks to bonds, and from DM to EM
For much of the last five years, investors were able to take shelter from various economic and market tempests in a few axiomatic ‘truths’ – bonds were safer than stocks, EM growth was superior to DM, and liquidity was omnipresent. The last few weeks have seen all of these assumptions tested, and come up wanting.
As a result a modest improvement in EU consumer sentiment can have an outsized impact on growth expectations, and by extension on EPS and stock prices. Chart 8 shows that even though consumer confidence remains solidly in negative territory, the trend is rebounding strongly, and is led by Italy and Spain.
The forward looking components of PMIs also point to further improvements in coming months (Chart 9)
Bravo avucat... le hai prese tutte...![]()