Globalization driving equity markets-SSARIS

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Companies worldwide are taking advantage of globalization, which is driving earnings growth and underpinning a rally in equity markets, the chairman and chief executive of hedge fund group SSARIS said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Reuters Hedge Funds and Private Equity Summit, Mark Rosenberg said that U.S., Japanese and European corporations are learning how to be more efficient and take advantage of globalization, which is reflected in markets.

"I'm very impressed by the markets," said Rosenberg, in charge of $1 billion in assets at State Street Absolute Return Investment Strategies, a unit of State Street Global Alliance Co. "At the end of the day it's about earnings, and earnings are moving up."

Just the formation of the EU has created an enormous marketplace and been part of a world convergence that is driving corporate profits, he said.

If anything, U.S. equity markets are probably being held back by the war in Iraq and a perception of incompetence by the U.S. administration, Rosenberg said.

Although in the long-term a divide might widen between the haves and have nots in the United States and put a damper on the middle class, the immediate future is bright, he said.

"I don't see a dark scenario," he said.