Eurozone QE has increased investors' appetite for risk

Stock markets' positive reaction to the European Central Bank's quantitative easing programme proves that UK investors are not being swayed by headwinds facing the country, says Alan Custis, manager of the Lazard UK Omega fund

It has certainly been a happy new year for the UK equity market, with the FTSE 100 hitting its all-time high this month. With further signs of growth in the UK economy, falling oil prices keeping inflation low, and quantitative easing in the eurozone distracting from the disappointing pace of recovery on the continent, momentum appears, for now, to be on the side of the UK equity investor. However, a lack of significant growth in Europe, the United Kingdom's largest trading partner, and the sustainability of the United States' recovery now quantitative easing has been withdrawn are just ...