The U.S., though, still maintains an earnings growth advantage. While consensus earnings growth estimates point to a narrowing US fundamental advantage next year, earnings growth for the Russell 1000 Index at 9.0% is still better than the 8.3% growth rate projected for the rest of the world as represented by the FTSE World ex US Index.
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Lastly, investors continued to strongly favor the US exposure and shunned international stocks. The FTSE Russell Composite Sentiment Indicator score of the Russell 1000 and FTSE World ex US over the past month also reveal a widening disparity in positive sentiment between US and international market outlook. The sentiment scores between the markets currently exhibit the widest spread between the two sentiment indicators in more than five years.
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