Investor Poll Shows Rates To Continue At Record Lows Stocks Preferred

Global investors put more money into stocks in June favoring the United States and Britain where economic recovery is gathering pace over other developed markets, a Reuters poll showed on Monday.

The monthly poll of 51 fund managers and chief investment officers in the United States, Britain, Europe and Japan showed the average recommended exposure to equities in global balanced portfolios rose to 51 percent from 50.8 percent.

This small increase came at the expense of allocations to bonds, which were down to 35.6 percent from 35.9 percent a month earlier.

Allocations to cash and alternative investments such as hedge funds remained unchanged at 5.7 percent and 5.6 percent respectively. Property investments were also slightly higher at 2.1 percent, advancing further after having reached their highest levels since June 2011 last month as investors sought out the yields offered by commercial real estate.

Within global equities portfolios, the average allocation to North American stocks rose to 42.1 percent from 41.5 percent while investors also hiked exposure to British stocks to 11.9 percent from 11.5 percent.

This came partly at the expense of equities in the euro zone, where economic recovery is seen as further off than in Britain and the United States.

Extra stimulus from the European Central Bank, which cut its deposit rate to negative earlier this month, and hints from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that rates are likely to stay low, are fuelling demand for riskier assets such as equities.

But while portfolios are increasingly shaped to catch an expected uplift from economic recovery and rising corporate profits, a significant number of investors taking part in the poll said they worry about the chance markets might correct.

via Reuters

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