Europe is in good shape and set to ride out US slowdown

Fund managers are taking a bias toward Europe on the back of strong corporate earnings. Stephen Dexter, chief investment officer of the Putnam Global Growth fund, says: "We are overweight Europe and, in particular, are favouring the French and German markets, where we are seeing a recovery in consumer confidence. Home sales have also increased." In France, Dexter favours banking stocks such as BNP Paribas and Société Générale because these groups are beneficiaries of higher consumer spending. In Germany he likes insurer Allianz because the group has been restructuring and cutting costs....