Ailing European appetite sees global investor confidence fall
European investor confidence retreated to neutral territory this month after hitting a six-year high in October, a benchmark shows.
After reaching its highest level since July 2007, European sentiment took a sharp fall, with the State Street Investor Confidence Index (ICI) for the region dropping to 101.5 from its October reading of 111.3.
It helped push the global ICI down 4.2 points to 91.3, from its rating of 95.5 the previous month.
The State Street Index, co-developed by Harvard University professor Kenneth Froot, measures investor risk appetite based on trades.
It showed confidence picked up slightly in North America and Asia, with a 3.2 point increase on October to 86.2 in the US and a 3.4 point rise in Asia to 98.9 from 95.5.
"Improved US economic data and consensus around the Yellen nomination implying delayed tapering seem to be leading to an uptick in North American investor confidence," Froot said.
"Investors in the US are still aware of the challenges and overall confidence reflects this, as sentiment has yet to return to a more neutral stance."
Recommended for you
After introducing its first active ETF to the Australian market earlier this year, BlackRock is now preparing to launch its first actively managed, income-focused ETF by the end of November.
Milford Australia has welcomed two new funds to market, driven by advisers’ need for more liquid, transparent credit solutions that meet their strong appetite for fixed income solutions.
Perennial Partners has entered into a binding agreement to take a 50 per cent stake in Balmoral Investors and appoint it as the manager of Perennial's microcap strategy.
A growing trend of factor investing in ETFs has seen the rise of smart beta or factor ETFs, but Stockspot has warned that these funds likely won’t deliver as expected and could cost investors more long-term.
