S&W's Focke and Royle focus on domestic earnings

Smith & Williamson's Tana Focke and Robert Royle have increased exposure to domestic earnings on the North American Trust after a recent US visit revealed growing optimism in the corporate sector.

At a time when many Western investors are looking to emerging market earnings to boost portfolios, the S&W managers have moved from being very overweight foreign earnings two years ago, to an underweight position. "The impression from my recent trip was that we have hit the bottom in the markets and things are getting better. The charts are showing the orders are coming in and margins are getting better," Focke said. The pair are particularly upbeat about retail sales in the US, which Royle described as "fantastic". Consumer spending accounts for 70% of US economic activity and has be...