The pressures facing global equities

SPECIAL REPORT

Andrew McMenigall, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, provides a round-up of the macroeconomic situation and suggests what impact it will have on global equities.

A weakening global economic trend has unfolded recently. Views hinting towards recovery at the end of 2012 have ended and new stimulus measures have been initiated on both sides of the Atlantic. The length of the global deleveraging process is difficult to predict; however, one certainty is that economic activity across the world will suffer as a result. Company earnings expectations are likely to fall and, despite ‘top line’ growth aiding company performance, this momentum would appear to be behind us, especially as nominal growth rates come down. US In the US, a looming election h...