Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) chief investment officer for international equity, Suneil Mahindru, spoke to InvestorDaily about the outcome of a GSAM strategy group meeting held in London last week.
"We spent a day in Europe meeting companies, and the message we got from a wide variety of companies was the breadth of the recovery," Mr Mahindru said.
The growth that started in the UK and Germany has started to spread out into other parts of Europe, he said, and noted that meanwhile, the growth in Europe, while not "super strong", has been boosted by the growth in loans to European corporates.
"Loan growth for the last few quarters has turned positive. Particularly, loan growth to the corporate sector has turned positive," Mr Mahindru said.
But the encouraging signs in Europe have an important caveat, he continued – much of the earnings growth in the eurozone is coming from emerging markets.
"Between 25-30 per cent of European earnings from the corporate sector is exposed or derived from emerging markets," he said.
"The European economy is a much more open economy than the US economy is.
"It’s just something to be aware of. We’re optimistic on domestic Europe, but Europe as a whole given its exposure to emerging markets is something that we’re watchful of," Mr Mahindru said.
