State Street Global Markets announced that its Global Investor Confidence Index fell by 7.6 points in November to 100.8, down from 108.4 the month before. A reading of 100 represents a neutral level where institutions are neither allocating toward or away from risky assets.
By region, the largest decline was in Asia, where the reading fell 4.1 points to 91.2, from 95.3. The risk appetite of North American investors remained largely unchanged, rising a mere 1.1 points from 101.1 to 102.2. European investors were slightly more confident, with their reading increasing 3.7 points from 101.8 to 105.5.
“Across all regions, institutional investors are largely treading water, neither increasing nor reducing their aggregate holdings of risky assets,” said Harvard University Professor Ken Froot, who helped develop the index. “Overall, investors are displaying some caution about the current level of equity valuations, and a desire to see more evidence of real economic activity and aggregate demand, particularly in the U.S., before adding to equity exposures.”
As recently at August, the index reached a high of 122.8, up from a low of 82.8 last December.
