Time for investing in opportunities in the UK and Europe, says fund manager
BlackRock, the global asset management firm, has encouraged investors to consider opportunities in the UK and Europe despite the tough macro environment.
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The message from BlackRock comes after Moody’s on Monday downgraded its outlook for Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg from stable to negative.
The downgrades, along with the news that Spanish bond yields have escalated to their highest level in the history of the eurozone, has prompted fear among investors and stock market falls around the world.
Attempting to restore investor confidence, BlackRock’s head of UK retail, Tony Stenning, notes in the statement how important it is ‘for investors to remember that the stock markets in both the UK and continental Europe are home to some of the most diverse, high-quality companies with exposure to international earnings growth.’
He urges investors to seek out potential in companies with ‘attractive medium-term returns’, confident of their potential to ‘provide a steady source of income’ while growing ‘their retirement pot’.
Alice Gaskell, co-manager of the BlackRock Continental European Income Fund, adds that more than ‘75 percent of the holdings in our portfolio have actually increased dividend payments in 2011.’
Markets, however, received another setback today with the news the UK’s economy has sunk deeper into recession: initial figures say GDP shrank 0.7 percent in Q2.
