Pease: Euro debt riskier than many equities

Richard Pease, manager of the Henderson European Growth and European Special Situations funds, believes stocks on the Continent can flourish despite the sovereign debt concerns.

The European Union may have bought a little time but I believe that further intervention will probably be needed in 2011 if sovereign debt contagion is to be contained. The market is clearly unconvinced that the structural problems are resolved when yields on government debt in the eurozone range from 3% in Germany to nearer 12% in Greece. In fact, Irish and Greek 10-year government bond holders have seen their bonds lose about a quarter of their value in 2010, compared to modest positive returns from European equities. Interestingly, we enter 2011 with government debt looking poorer val...