Resolved Eurozone crisis ‘would greatly benefit US markets’  January 31st, 2012

A recovery in the Eurozone could have very good results on the American markets, according to analysis carried out by JP Morgan Asset Management.

The group's portfolio manager of the JPM US equity income fund Clare Hart offered her opinion on the situations affecting the growth of the American market in the current climate and suggested the US will continue to see sub-trend growth over the coming one to two years.

She noted the strength of corporate balance sheets in combination with the fact that many cyclical areas of the market continue to be depressed are the primary reasons recession could be avoided.

However, all this is very much dependent on the recovery of the Eurozone, as if there are further issues affecting the area this could push the American markets down.

She explained that despite there being some increasingly attractive valuations seen, it remains questionable over whether or not the market will be patient.

In addition, there are strong doubts over whether all of the different European nations could agree on a plan to help the area's recovery.

"Looking at the US specifically, a turn in sentiment led US equity markets to rally sharply in the fourth quarter of 2011, allowing the S&P 500 to finish the year in positive territory," Ms Hart said.

She added that as a result of this, "the US was one of the best performing markets, having outperformed the MSCI World (ex-US) Index, as well as emerging markets, during the quarter."

JP Morgan has recently been making new addition to its teams, with the company recently announcing it was appointing Neil Moge to the role of senior client advisor for UK and European Strategic Insurance Sales in a position which will see him working with insurance clients from across Europe.