Investors make highest cash weightings in 20 years
Global fund managers are holding the highest levels of cash since 9/11, according to Bank of America research.
The September edition of the monthly Global Fund Manager survey found professional investors were holding 6.1% in cash. BoA said this was “only ever higher after 9/11” in October 2001 and was up from 5.7% in August. The long-term average for cash weightings was 4.8%.
Cash allocations were at a record overweight at 62% at the expense of equities and a record number of investors (61%) said they were taking lower-than-normal risk.
The reason for the above-average defensiveness was fears of a recession as 68% said they believed a recession was “likely” and 70% of respondents said they expected the energy crisis to cause a European recession.
Respondents were most bearish on the Eurozone, where allocations to European equities were at the most underweight ever, and least on the US with the UK also experiencing high bearish sentiment.
Looking at sectors, they were bullish on healthcare and consumer staples and bearish on discretionary stocks, industrials and utilities.
On the positive side, respondents felt that inflation had hit its peak and was likely to slow going forward after steep rises earlier this year. Over three-quarters of respondents said they expected to see slower inflation in the next 12 months, indicating inflation had peaked in August when the global inflation rate was 9.3%.
However, the threat of inflation remaining high was cited as the biggest tail risk to markets followed by hawkish central banks.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Recommended for you
Having launched its first active ETF for Australian investors earlier this year, iShares says this has helped the firm reach $50 billion in assets under management in Australia.
Recommending Platinum shareholders to enact the merger with L1 Capital, Morningstar has said it expects the combined firm will be able to moderate outflows and facilitate diversity in product range.
Elanor Commercial Property Fund has appealed to the Takeovers Panel regarding the takeover offer by family office Lederer Group, describing “disclosure deficiencies” in last month’s bidders statement.
Wholesale distribution is experiencing the most active hiring efforts as the decline in financial advisers means fund managers are focusing on high-net-worth investors and wealth managers instead.
