The State Street Global Investor Confidence Index increased to 70.9 in February, up 1.5 points from January’s revised reading of 69.4.
Confidence among North American investors showed a slight uptick, with the North American ICI rising from 65.7 to 66.3. The European ICI rose by 6.1 points to 96.0 and the Asia ICI decreased by 3.5 points to 96.4.
“Institutional investors remained cautious in February, continuing to show hesitance toward riskier assets,” says State Street’s Kenneth Froot (pictured), who developed the index with Paul O’Connell. “With lingering growth and trade policy uncertainty, it appears that the more dovish Fed and the hopes for progress on the US-China trade front are not enough to tip the scales.”
“Global institutional investor confidence has exhibited little signs of recovery following last month’s sharp decline in the ICI. Although cross-asset volatility has tempered, the crude memories of Q4’s market decline, along with increasing growth concerns in Europe and China, place headwinds on investor confidence,” says Rajeev Bhargava, managing director and head of Investor Behaviour Research, State Street Associates.
