Advisors Go Abroad for Opportunities

Financial advisors are losing their appetite for the U.S. and turning to more opportunities abroad.

Advisors were allocating more of their clients' assets to non-U.S. equities, while pulling back from bonds, according to the latest Global Asset Allocation Tracker. Our new monthly barometer of where wealth managers are allocating assets for their clients shows advisors were increasingly bullish on overseas markets. The tracker, which uses a baseline of 50, surveyed 268 advisors.

Several advisors said expected interest rate volatility kept them from purchasing more bonds for client portfolios. At the same time, they also said foreign equities represented a buying opportunity, despite overseas markets experiencing some turmoil last year, and having lagged U.S. equities.

"I am a bit of a contrarian. Many global markets are down, and I look at that as an opportunity," explained one advisor.

Another expected to follow others in allocating more assets abroad: "Strong U.S. results probably mean a rebalance to international is on the horizon."

While one advisor said growth opportunities within U.S. equities suggested better picks at home than abroad, another countered that was no reason to pass up returns elsewhere: "Even with U.S. equities still showing growth potential, I believe in interesting global possibilities near term."

However, bullish sentiments may be limited to advisors as some have encountered client resistance. "Clients are reluctant to invest further in global [equities] when I suggest they consider this," one advisor noted.

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