With the ECB set to buy more than one trillion dollars of debt, Eurozone interest rates could fall even further in 2015.
Eurozone interest rates are far below rates in the U.S., and likely have exerted a gravitational pull downward on U.S. rates (top frame). Low rates coupled with the prospect of Euro weakness mean that foreign developed bond positions could struggle, in our view.
At the same time, we have written extensively about significantly higher dividend yields for overseas equity markets.
Accordingly, we believe income-oriented investors should have their fixed-income portfolios centered on the U.S., while leaning heavily on overseas equity markets to generate dividend income.