Tough markets in Europe but still opportunities to make money

Despite the weak global economic backdrop and the prospect of a sub-par economic recovery, we are still relatively optimistic in our expectation of European equity market returns for 2003. The European economy seems likely to produce very lacklustre growth this year as weak domestic demand coincides with weak export growth. Domestic demand is likely to be subdued owing to soft consumer spending that follows from fears over job security and low wage growth. Business investment is also likely to remain poor with corporates choosing to continue repairing their balance sheets and...