Barnfather: Where next for European equity markets?

Europe is at the centre of growing unease regarding the state of the global economy.

While many companies’ management teams are not seeing any sign of a significant slowdown, investors are now concerned uncertainty will feed into the real economy, curtailing growth and exacerbating the government debt crisis. The European market has now fallen to the same level as it reached post-Lehman in 2008 and, as such, valuations across a range of companies have become compelling. In the near term, markets are likely to continue to be driven by sentiment, with a mix of political news and economic data being the most significant swing factors. When 17 governments discuss anything...