U.S. Investors Return Home as Global Growth Wanes

Economic worries overseas are leading investors to return to U.S. stocks, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal.

The article reports that recently, global stocks have underperformed U.S. equities, “as concerns spread about the health of emerging markets, geopolitical tensions in Asia and the pace of European growth.” Some analysts say that investors are coming to grips with signals that the “much-anticipated world-wide economic liftoff” has yet to arrive.

Jonathan Golub, chief equity strategist for Credit Suisse AG, is quoted: “You’re seeing the growth of European returns begin to weaken and roll over. Investors are going to re-evaluate how they compare the U.S. to the rest of the globe because the U.S. is going to look more attractive.”

As U.S. companies continue to show strong growth (boosted by tax cuts) and the labor market tightens further, domestic prospects look better than overseas. The article notes that data from European factory orders have missed forecasts and that the strengthening dollar (which makes raw materials more expensive) and rising U.S. interest rates are bearing down on countries such as Argentina, Turkey and Indonesia.