fund manager comment: ABN AMRO

With economies on both sides of the Atlantic in recession, equity markets are taking a six- to nine-month view. With that kind of a time scale in mind, the outlook for European equity markets is quite positive. Supported by easing monetary policy on both sides of the Atlantic and stimulation from the US government, both the European and US economies are set to recover around summer 2002. There is a fair chance this recovery will be a gradual one, in the sense that imbalances in the US economy will hamper a rapid, V-shaped recovery and this will be reflected in the European economies' r...