John Bennett: It is hard to believe Europe's economy can escape Brexit vote unscathed

Biggest concern is referendum result catalyses a European recession

clock • 3 min read

In the wake of the EU referendum result, John Bennett explains why he is inclined to worry less about the UK's prospects than those of peripheral eurozone markets such as Greece, Portugal and Italy

Having been cautious on markets all year, we went into the 23 June referendum with a defensive posture to our holdings - with large weightings in healthcare as well as the recently-built exposure to oil majors. This positioning was based on fundamentals and not because of any prescience about the outcome of the vote. I expect Brexit to be nothing like as bad for the world as the sensationalist media likes to portray, although the truth is we are in uncharted waters and nobody knows. We have therefore made no strategic changes to the portfolios since the result. This is because, if anythi...

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