As the bull market extends, investors are chasing U.S. stocks ETFs despite cheaper valuations in many other markets.
“History suggests that the leadership of the stock market does not rotate into laggards late in the cycle — bull markets don’t broaden. Instead, investors chase the leaders even harder, narrowing bull markets further. This time round, US equities look like the obvious beneficiary,” Robert Buckland, chief global equity strategist at Citi, said on Financial Times.
The S&P 500 Index is up 6.8% year-to-date. Meanwhile, the MSCI All Country World Index ex USA is down 4.9%, the MSCI EAFE Index is 3.8% lower and the MSCI Emerging Market Index declined 8.4% so far this year.
“There will be a time when US valuations fall back towards other markets, but it isn’t now. It’s better to be overweight US stocks within a global equity portfolio,” Buckland said.