Europe

Alex Ralph, manager of the £1.2bn Artemis High Income Fund, explains why she remains concerned in regards to the outlook for the UK market and has turned her attention to Europe instead.

Fundamentals stronger than headlines suggest

Latter stages of the cycle

At first glance, European smaller companies look expensive. They trade on a two-year forward earnings-per-share multiple of 15.8x, against their 15-year average of 13x.

Valuations have doubled over five years

Providers launch 1,027 funds in H1 2017

The monetary policy debate is likely to continue to dominate volatility in government bonds markets, and its ripples are likely to impact broader fixed income markets.

Lucy Macdonald, manager of the Brunner investment trust, takes a closer look at the prospects for global equity markets.

Attractive economic backdrop

With many asset classes having been pumped up to high valuations by central bank stimulus, we are concerned that investors are no longer receiving particularly generous rewards for taking market risk.