U.S. remains ‘vibrant’ region for stock pickers

After a challenging year so far in global markets, the U.S. has emerged as the most promising region for stock pickers, an Edinburgh-based investment managers says.

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Murdo MacLean, client investment manager at Walter Scott & Partners Ltd. in Edinburgh, Scotland, said the U.S. remains an exciting market for “long-term growth stories.”

“There is a reason why the U.S. occupies more than 50% of our global strategy,” he said, adding that it continues to be a “very vibrant” region for stock pickers. 

But while the U.S. economy chugs along, avoiding a recession at least for now, other economies might not be so lucky.

“There’s no getting away from the fact that the outlook for the global economy is perhaps less positive than it was six months ago,” MacLean said.

“Europe is struggling with the same inflationary pressures the U.S. is, but it also faces its own very unique energy crisis” due to its dependence on Russia.

Predicting the direction of economies, either globally or regionally, is very difficult, he said, which is why he takes a bottom-up investing approach based on companies.

After an extended period without travel, MacLean said his team has been back on the ground in the U.S. this year meeting with company executives face-to-face.

They haven’t made it to Asia, though. Much of the continent remained nearly off limits from a travel perspective, MacLean said, which also has trade ramifications. 

As a result, he said a full-scale recovery may be some time away for a number of companies and countries in that region.

However, he is still optimistic about many Asian companies’ longer-term prospects .

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Maddie Johnson

Maddie is a freelance writer and editor who has been reporting for Advisor.ca since 2019.