According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,"heavily indebted euro-zone countries are standing out from the pack again —but in a good way. So far this year, stocks from Ireland, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece are outpacing their safer peers. A big improvement in credit markets and the hope growth will deliver stronger earnings are supporting that''.
The moves are sharp: Ireland's ISEQ index is up 6.8%, Portugal's PSI 20 up 5.6%, and Italy's FTSE MIB up 5.7%. By contrast, Germany's DAX has gained just 1.7% and France's CAC 40 is up just 0.6%. Still, stocks from southern Europe and Ireland have a long way to go to catch up. While Germany's DAX has set a new postcrisis record high, the Irish and Italian indexes are still down 50% from their precrisis highs; Spain is down 35%.
