Investor confidence has taken another hit to reach the third lowest reading ever recorded by the State Street Investor Confidence Index.
The index results, released today, revealed that global investor confidence fell by 2.4 points to 70.7 in September, down from a revised August level of 73.1.
The index revealed that confidence among North American investors remained subdued at a level of 76.1, up just 0.9 from August, while Asian investors also felt pessimistic with their confidence falling 2.5 points from a revised level of 88.3 points.
Commenting on the index, Harvard University professor Ken Froot noted that the reading was the third lowest since the inception of the index over 10 years ago.
“This is perhaps unsurprising, given the market turmoil that we have experienced,” he said.
Froot said that in examining the underlying data, he had discovered that alongside the diminution in risk appetite there had been a pronounced increase in the heterogeneity of investor positions.
“In deleveraging, institutional investors have sought to exit some of the more crowded trades in the marketplace,” he said.
