Look Past Europe

Stocks have managed to post some impressive gains in the past few sessions despite quite a bit of seemingly bad news -- much out of Europe, which has been a thorn in the side of the global recovery for the past several years. Spain's unemployment rate is approaching 25%; aggressive plans to create jobs while cutting the deficit are failing. It's a similar story elsewhere: Ireland recently cut its growth outlook and the U.K. announced it has slid back into a recession. Europe is a disaster zone at present, and it's difficult to imagine satisfactory returns coming from the region anytime soon.

In the current environment, there is no good reason to hold a significant allocation to Europe. In fact, I'd advocate a portfolio that has little to no exposure to the cash-strapped continent on the brink of a fiscal disaster. Those who have cut or eliminated positions in euro-denominated securities over the past couple of years have been very glad they did so....335 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.

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