Investor confidence among European institutions has increased while confidence among Asian and North American investors has fallen.
The divergence of investor confidence as measured by the State Street Investor Confidence Index (ICI) for August appears to reflect ongoing erraticism in European sentiment.
“Looking at the regional breakdown [of the global ICI], the European ICI has exhibited a lot of volatility this year,” said Rajeev Bhargava, head of investor behaviour research at State Street Associates. “President Trump’s trade policies continue to stir up investor uncertainty, in addition to the renewed worries over Italy’s debt burden.”
The Global ICI turned negative. Down 7.4 points to 94.3 from July’s revised reading of 101.7, the reading below 100 suggests investors are decreasing long-term risk exposure.
Similarly, among North American institutional investors, confidence declined from 103.1 to 92.5.
Confidence decreased slightly in Asia, albeit at 102.6 views on risk assets remained positive.
But European investors increased their exposure to risk assets, pushing the region’s ICI up 8.1 points to 99.5.
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