Another Head Fake, or Brighter Future Ahead? Weighing the Case for European Equities in 2022

While the U.S. stock market has outperformed European indices for years, it is important to remain aware of the benefits of global diversification. And recently, we have begun to see changes in Europe giving us greater confidence in this view: European economic growth is expected to slightly outpace the U.S. this year, and equity market valuations have come down, potentially offering a more attractive entry point for geopolitical, monetary policy, earnings and sector diversification benefits. 

In this episode of Market Currents, Northern Trust’s Katie Nixon is joined by Wouter Sturkenboom, the bank’s chief investment strategist for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region as well as the Asia-Pacific region. Katie and Wouter discuss: 

• The evolution of European fiscal policy from an austerity mindset to a pro-growth agenda
• Lessons the European Central Bank is putting into practice for nurturing sustainable growth and supporting governments in difficult times with interest rates and liquidity
• The relative weighting, valuations and profitability of the companies that make up U.S. and European indices and what each market may offer investors

About our guest:

Wouter Sturkenboom, CFA, CAIA, is chief investment strategist for EMEA and APAC at Northern Trust. He is responsible for formulating the regional asset allocation views, putting those views in a global context and communicating the firm’s opinions. As a member of the Interest Rate Strategy Committee and Investment Policy Committee, Wouter helps produce long-term asset class forecasts, as well as set tactical and strategic portfolio allocations and recommendations.

Wouter is a CFA® charterholder and is a certified Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from George Washington University and master’s degree in international economics from Maastricht University.