Global investor confidence down in December

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Global investor confidence dipped slightly in December but a glimpse at individual regions showed that European institutional investors are more upbeat than their Asian and North American counterparts.

According to the State Investor Confidence Index for December, which was released by State Street Global Markets, the confidence of institutional investors in Asia declined 1.0 points to 93.7 from November's revised reading of 94.7, while in North America, the figure dropped 2.0 points to 96.4 from the revised reading of 98.4 in November.

However, European institutional investors bucked the trend, with confidence surging 0.6 points to 102.2, from the revised level of 101.6 in November.

Developed by Paul O'Connell of State Street Associates and Harvard University professor Kenneth Froot, the index differs from survey-based measures as it is based on the actual trades and not the opinions of institutional investors.

Commenting on the confidence of European investors, O'Connell said this is a turnabout from the first half of the year, “when European investors showed the most pessimism.”

“It does not necessarily mean that prospects for the European region itself have improved, but it does suggest that European institutions are more willing to allocate to equities both inside and outside Europe than they were earlier in the year,” he said.


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