Views from the equity market

THE latest Greek agreement was as uninspiring as it was unsurprising. The problem is, and remains, that the interests of the two key parties, the Greeks and the troika, are fundamentally opposed.

However, unlike in 2012 when the prospect of Greece leaving the single currency presented an existential threat to the euro, now there is a general belief that the single currency would survive.

This time we have the Draghi pledge and the perceived backstop of European quantitative easing (QE).

The prospect of QE and the recognition that even without Greece, the euro is more French franc or lira than deutschmark, has left the euro in a firm downtrend, with the sterling cross attracting most attention.

On simple headline economic terms this sort of makes sense. But we should not lose sight of the upcoming general election in the UK, nor should we be complacent about the political changes in Europe, both of which may have significant impacts at the corporate level…