Why Have European Equities Underperformed US Peers?

European Equities Underperformance - The main difference between European and US equity markets over the past decade is the massive underperformance by European equities competitor US peers. It isn’t just equity performance where European companies are struggling. European corporates are also struggling to grow earnings per share and profits in general, a theme that’s extremely broad-based and can’t be blamed on just one or two factors.

This week, Morgan Stanley’s European Equity Strategy research booklet looks at this anomaly between European and US earnings. The bank’s analysis finds that there are several reasons behind the sluggish European growth profile and the bank also sets out to dispel some myths that are commonly cited as being the reason to blame for sluggish...