BOSTON (dpa-AFX) – The mood for equity investors deteriorated in January. The global investor confidence index (ICI) calculated monthly by financial services provider State Street fell from 3.2 to 76.5 points. As a result, investors were more pessimistic about European and North American equities. However, the ICI for Europe with its most recent 105.5 points is much higher than that of North America by 68.2 points.
“Significantly, the confidence of European investors continued to decline,” said Michael Metcalfe of State Street Global Markets. Because, like the first series of bond purchases by the European Central Bank, the promise to purchase had as much – if not more – a signal effect for investors than the purchase action itself. even.
Investor sentiment has only improved in Asian stock markets. ICI Asia progressed from 4.8 to 93.9 points. However, Metcalfe indicated that January 22 was the key date for the investigation, so the effects of the spread of the novel coronavirus infection on mood in January were not recorded.
The Investor Confidence Index quantitatively measures investor confidence or risk tolerance by examining the actual buying and selling behavior of institutional investors. The index assigns precise meaning to changes in investors’ risk appetite: the higher the percentage allocation between individual securities, the greater the risk appetite or confidence. A value of 100 is neutral; it is the level at which investors do not increase or decrease their long-term exposure to high-risk assets.
