The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was trading at its lowest level since November 2016 while the Euro Stoxx 50 closed in a bear market, Bloomberg reports.
The European benchmarks were set for their worst year since the 2008 financial downturn as a combination of political risk and economic concerns triggered about $70 billion in outflows from the region’s stock funds. For example, VGK experienced $2.4 billion in outflows and EZU saw close to $7.0 billion in outflows year-to-date, according to XTF data.
“It’s a combination of nervousness, growth fears and in particular Brexit uncertainty. Liquidity is very thin, and political risks are more severe for Europe,” Ulrich Urbahn, head of multi-asset strategy and research, told Bloomberg. “The hope is that with some re-balancing flows at the end of the year and new risk budgets at the beginning of next year, markets will find a bottom.”
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