Draghi Pledge May Boost Investment in Europe Stocks
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The underperformance of European stocks relative to their U.S. counterparts may be ending, even as investors await the details of a plan for the European Central Bank to join forces with governments to ease the euro area’s debt crisis.
The Euro Stoxx 50 Index -- a benchmark of blue-chip shares -- has risen 5.9 percent since July 25, the day before ECB President Mario Draghi pledged that policy makers were “ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro.” The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has risen 2.2 percent in the same period. The recent outperformance comes after the European index lagged behind the S&P 500 by almost 80 percent between March 9, 2009, when the U.S. index hit a 13-year low, and June 18, 2012.