Where are Europe's global champions?

Secular tailwinds helping sectors such as air travel

The start of this year has seen further weakening in global growth expectations with data out of China continuing to disappoint and US GDP growing at only 0.7% in the fourth quarter.

Coupled with this, we have seen dramatic weakness in the price of oil and other key commodities and the balance sheets and cashflows of many producers and service providers are beginning to look fairly stressed. Weak growth prospects and concerns over commodity exposures are also taking their toll on many financials, with valuations of some of the European banks in particular at levels that seem to reflect concerns over the health of the banking system. All these factors have weighed on equity markets, along with a sense that risk premiums, which have been so low for so long, are bein...