Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- S&P 500 has limited upside over the next couple of years while euro-area equities are trading at a 47% discount to their U.S. counterparts on price-to-book value, Societe Generale strategists including Roland Kaloyan and Charles De Boissezon write in note.

• Better economic and inflation outlook, combined with an

expected drop in policy uncertainty after French election, should make the region “strongly appealing”

• Italian stocks look particularly cheap, should benefit from normalization of risk and bond spreads
  • SocGen sees FTSE MIB at 24,500 points by end-2018, a rise of 23% from current levels
• Higher bond yields prompt rotation: SocGen recommends avoiding bond-proxy sectors with no growth: telecoms and

utilities ** Favors banks, which benefit from higher inflation and should be main beneficiaries of a market-friendly candidate winning French election

• M&A to boost European stocks: low bond yields, strong balance sheets, strong cash generation, better economic outlook among factors set to fuel further consolidation in Europe

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