The State Street Investor Confidence Index (ICI) for June 2018 totalled 101.7, down 2.1 points from May’s revised reading of 103.8.
The decline in sentiment was driven by a 10.8 drop in the European ICI to 90.8 along with the 0.8 point decrease in the Asian ICI to 102.6. By contrast, the North American ICI rose by 0.8 points to 105.7.
“In June, global institutional investors slightly decreased their risk appetite,” says State Street’s Kenneth Froot (pictured). “Escalating trade tensions across the globe, increasing protectionism, and diverging monetary policy between the major central banks have coincided with more cautious investor positioning.”
“European political turmoil continues to take a toll on investor sentiment. Faced with a confident, populist government in Italy and the possibility of a more fragile coalition in Germany, European investors retreated from risk once again in June and dragged the broader, global aggregate down to its lowest levels this year,” says Timothy Graf, head of Macro Strategy, EMEA, State Street Global Markets.
