Pick a benchmark, any benchmark
For almost a year, European equity brokers have been swapping theories about the prospects for a great rebalancing of share portfolios across Europe. Former domestic investors, once constrained by currency-matching rules to buying stocks listed in their own countries , are now liberalized by the euro and are seeking pan-European exposure. In the first half of 1998, equity strategists endlessly discussed the likely winners and losers by country and sector. Many predicted a huge flow through Europe's equity markets in the first months and years of the single currency, running to many hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of stock.
As the launch of the euro has approached, some brokers have been disappointed to see less activity than expected. They have blamed the natural inertia of pension-plan sponsors, their actuaries, consultants and fund managers. They have bemoaned the uncertainty and confusion over which of the many competing...
