Investor confidence was approaching a 5% increase over the last 12 months – at least until the stock market correction began.
Now it can only be speculated what Lloyds Private Bank’s regular survey of over 4,000 adults would reveal.
Published today, the survey found investors were feeling good about market opportunities globally, with an overall sentiment score of 10.9% recorded when the investors were surveyed in early February.
While the score is likely to have moved since the start of the month in light of the fast-paced correction on global stock markets last week, it represented an increase of 1.9% compared to January, and 4.8% since this time last year, the bank said.
The score also comes on the back of four consecutive month-on-month rises in sentiment.
US shares saw the biggest monthly jump in investor confidence out of all eleven asset classes surveyed, though there were further improvements for UK shares (+2.5%), Eurozone shares (+1.8%) and emerging market shares (+0.1%).
The survey, which covered 4,442 UK adults, shows that UK property “continued to re-establish itself as one of the more favoured asset classes”.
Markus Stadlmann, chief investment officer at Lloyds Private Bank, said: “Despite our sentiment tracker scores showing good results for global equities, we know that valuation metrics reveal a number of different scenarios developing in key economies.
“Sentiment may well have shifted since the fall of stock markets from grace this week, but it’s not something for investors to be overly concerned about. US equities – this month’s most improved asset class for popularity – have been showing as extremely expensive for some time. This is in contrast to China and Japan where equities continue to offer good value.
He added: “Given the current condition of the global economy, we would expect this correction to last for a few weeks before being followed by a recovery.”
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