Global investors have tempered their optimism about the U.S. and world economies and plan to put less of their money in commodities and more into cash, a quarterly poll of 1,263 investors, analysts and traders who are
Thirty percent said they will put less money in commodities, and an equal number said they will put more money in cash. This was the highest amount for each category since Bloomberg began asking this quarter in June 2010.
Forty percent intend to increase their exposure to equity markets in the next six months, down from 60% in January. The pessimism is more pronounced in the U.S., where 37% said they are increasing their equity exposure, down from 57% in the previous poll in January.
However, 40% expect oil prices to fall in the next six months, the first time investors felt this way since the poll debuts in July 2009.
While 50% in January said they believe the U.S. and global economies are improving, only 40% think so, perhaps because U.S. GDP growth slowed to 1.8% in the first quarter of 2011, down from 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Further, home prices in 75% of U.S. cities declined further in the first quarter of 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Asian investors are the most confident in their home economy, with 42% saying it is improving, compared with 31% of U.S. investors and 26% of European investors.
