Europe drags down global investor confidence
Bleak investor outlook in Europe put a strain on the overall global investor confidence index (ICI), decreasing 5.5 points from December's revised 112.2 to 106.7.
State Street Global Exchange's ICI for January showed European ICI took the biggest beating, dropping 5.7 points to 113.9 from December's revised reading of 119.6.
"Global deflationary fears, geopolitical risk and European political volatility led to declines in sentiment in January," the index's developer Kenneth Froot said.
He added the focus is now on the Federal Reserve to see if the Federal Open Market Committee will raise rates in the second quarter in light of low inflation and retail sales in the US.
Sagging European investor confidence continues from December, when the ICI fell 10.2 points from November's revised level of 129.7.
State Street Global Exchange executive vice president Jessica Donohue agreed European investors were behind flagging investor confidence.
"It will be interesting to see whether recent sovereign quantitative easing by the European Central Bank will offset rising political uncertainty in the Eurozone and lead to a stabilisation in sentiment," she said.
AUTHOR
Malavika Santhebennur
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