Despite some major headwinds and periods of waning sentiment, regional sharemarkets have completed this financial year with strong returns
Despite some major headwinds and periods of waning sentiment, regional sharemarkets have completed this financial year with strong returns. As was the case last year, the majority of the price gains in markets in FY14 reflected rising valuations, with only four of the largest 25 markets having recorded higher expected earnings in each of the past two years. US earnings growth (+13% pa since mid-2009) has been among the strongest in global markets over the past five years (+7% pa for the MSCI World ex-US). Looking forward, the price support from higher earnings, might be amplified by the large amount of US share buybacks, with potentially USD600 billion of transactions in 2014. This is likely to be EPS accretive and support global sharemarket sentiment in the process. Matt Sherwood, Head of Investment Market Research, looks at the factors he believes will support US share prices and global market sentiment. (VIEW LINK)
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