Buyers’ guilt explains historic capitulation in Europe stocks

LONDON: No valuation case is compelling enough to keep the world’s stock investors from giving up on Europe.

Blame it on regret. After pumping more money into the region’s equities than any time in history, last year’s buyers are being burned with some of the world’s worst returns. Global fund managers are bailing at the fastest clip ever, even though the Euro Stoxx 50 Index yields 3.7 percentage points more than bonds in dividends and companies from BNP Paribas SA to Siemens AG are on average about 25% cheaper than the and 500.