For the second month in a row, globe investor confidence is down, driven mostly by North American institutional investors.
The State Street Investor Confidence Index fell by 9.9 points to a level of 65.9 in December, down from last month’s reading of 75.8.
North American investors were once again the key drivers of this decline, as their confidence fell 10.1 points to reach an all-time low of 65.3. Elsewhere, European investor appetite improved to 85.0 from 83.9, while the confidence of Asian investors fell to 85.8 from 86.6.
“Continuing the pattern established two months ago, it is the North American investor who has the bleakest outlook,” says State Street Associates director Paul O’Connell. “European and Asian institutional investors have maintained their risk appetite again this month, albeit at lower levels than we saw a year ago.”
“The North American pessimism is mirrored almost exactly in the behavior of U.S. consumer confidence over recent months, the first time since 2003 that we have seen such congruence.”
The index measures investor confidence on a quantitative basis, analyzing actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors. The more institutional investors are willing to devote to equities in their portfolio, the greater their confidence.
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