•
|
It was not a great month for Europe's bureaucrats. The OECD criticized the European Central Bank's efforts to combat economic stagnation and warned that Europe was the "locus of weakness" in the global economy; European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's grand €315 billion investment plan was widely mocked as disingenuous, containing neither new money, nor new ideas; even the Pope joined in, likening the EU to a barren grandmother, who was "elderly and haggard."
|
•
|
The equity markets, however, took it all in their stride. Buoyed by the promise of cheap oil, perhaps, every sector bar Energy gained on the month and the S&P Europe 350 finished November with a 3.3% gain.
|
•
|
Equity markets in the U.K. also rose in November, although more so in pound sterling terms - the euro strengthened by 2% over the month.
|
|