GAM's Gallagher: The best stockmarket returns are not behind us

2017 marked another strong year for European equities, with the MSCI Europe index providing a total return of 11% and the MSCI Europe ex-UK index providing a total return of 12% in euro terms.

Yet even this obscures the ‘true' level of returns apparent when one looks at performance in US dollar terms, apposite given that nearly half of revenues of European equities derived from outside Europe.  How long can the equities bull market last? In dollar terms, the MSCI Europe index provided a total return of 26%, while the MSCI Europe ex-UK index provided a total return of 28%. In this context, one might reasonably ask whether the best of the stockmarket's returns this cycle are now behind us. In our view, the answer in relation to European equities is an emphatic ‘no'. Since ...