JPMF outlook 2002: Pacific ex Japan

By Chris Tracey, investment director Given the trials and tribulations that have afflicted the world economy over the past twelve months it is hard to believe the best performing region over that period was Pacific ex Japan. A remarkable feature of the region was the resilience of profits in 2001, those of the MSCI index ex Japan falling by an estimated 5% (according to Morgan Stanley) a testament to the degree of corporate restructuring that followed the 1997/8 crisis and of course the regional P/E at the start of the year was at its biggest discount to that of the US for over a...