28/12/2011
State Street confidence index falls slightly in December
The global investor confidence index published by State Street Associates came out at 99.3 points in December, slightly down, by 0.1 points, from a corrected level of 99.4 in November. In North America, the investor confidence index fell 2.0 points, to 96.4, compared with a corrected level of 98.5 in November, while in Asia, the regional index fell 1.0 points to 93.7, from 94.7 (corrected level) the previous month. Institutional investors in Europe have escaped the trend, with the regional index indicating an increase of 0.6 points to 102.2 from a corrected level of 101.6 in November. “By region, European investors are more optimistic than their counterparts in North America and Asia, for the second consecutive month,” says M. O’Connell, author of the index. “This trend contrasts with the first quarter of the year, when European investors were most pessimistic. This does not necessarily mean that outlooks for the region itself have improved, but the trend suggests that European institutions are more prepared to make allocations to equities, in Europe and elsewhere, which they were not at the beginning of the year.”
