US

Will US midterm elections offer a boost to equity markets?

The risk that Europe is facing a Japan-style 'lost two decades' is increasing, and the euro will likely fall further, says UBP's Jean-Sylvain Perrig.

Investors calling an end to the US bull market are wrong, says OMGI's Ian Heslop, as overall volatility would have to be far higher to signal an end to the growth momentum that has powered US equities.

The six-year bull market in the US is still viewed with "deep suspicion", despite the wave of supportive factors, says AXA's Dan Harlow.

Sizzling market returns have given many investors the feeling that US stocks are overvalued. But judge market gains by earnings, and this is just not the case, explains J.P. Morgan's Paul Quinsee.

Evan Bauman, co-manager of the $3.2bn (£2bn) Legg Mason ClearBridge US Aggressive Growth fund, is still seeing value in blue-chip biotechnology firms in the US despite the huge rally in the wider sector.

A string of fines and legal costs has obscured banks' true earning power in recent years. Moreover, banks are now run by prudent risk managers, argues Tony Coniaris from Harris Associates.

Shares in UK-listed pharmaceutical giants Shire and AstraZeneca have fallen sharply this morning, after the US Treasury introduced a new law to curb tax avoidance by US companies which buy overseas rivals.

Steam came out of US technology stocks earlier this year, as investors pricked at what may have been a bubble. FOURPOINTS' Benoît Flamant analyses the sector's prospects five months on.

The S&P 500 index fell on Monday, after the latest US housing data came in weaker than expected, fuelling concerns over the strength of the economic recovery.