Europe: Europe offers opportunities despite slowdown

With most leading indicators pointing to a slowdown in Europe and investor sentiment mired by a succession of negative US economic indicators, investors are right to be concerned about Europe's economic outlook. However, Continental Europe still offers a number of good investment opportunities, with positive and negative earnings announcements arriving in equal measure. Severe intra-day swings prompted an emergency cut of 75 basis points in the Federal funds rate, the largest reduction for more than two decades, followed by another 50 basis points a week later, lending some short-term rel...