Sarasin's Monson calls start of multi-year global equity inflows

A multi-year period of strong flows into global equities is just beginning, driven by robust fundamentals and earnings, says Sarasin CIO and managing partner Guy Monson.

Monson blames the series of ‘black swans' in the Middle East, North Africa and Tokyo for weighing in on the markets in the first quarter, but says the US market and most of Europe reported positive returns for Q1. Negative events include political unrest in the MENA region, and the Japanese earthquakes and subsequent nuclear threat. However, encouraging factors include US jobs data, which has shown the manufacturing sector is adding workers for the fifth month in a row. A rise in European M&A activity, particularly among brand names, is also supportive of strong stock prices, he ad...