Investor Confidence Index Rises

Global institutional investors continued to reduce their exposure to equities but were less risk reverse in June, according to State Street, whose Investor Confidence index based on actual portfolios of their institutional clients rose to 87.6, up 8.2 points from May. The improvement in global confidence was driven by European institutional investors, who switched from being net sellers of equities to net buyers, with the sub-index jumping up 10.8 points to 103.2. The North American sub-index rose 5.6 points to 82.1 while the index for Asia was up 7.3 points to 96.1. State Street noted that although lingering trade tensions continue to weigh on investor confidence, sentiment towards equity markets was boosted by tailwinds from the dovish turn by central banks of developed countries.