Investors Doubt North America As Geopolitical Tensions Stir - State Street

Josh O'Neill

28 September 2017

Investors are continuing to lose faith in North America, but are eyeing potential in both Europe and Asia, new data shows.

Investor confidence in North America continued to decline in September, according to State Street’s Global Investor Confidence Index, which logged a 6.3 point drop for the continent this month. This helped drive down the index’s overall score from August’s reading of 106.8 to 104.4. For context, a reading of 100 is neutral.

“The regional breakdown of our Investor Confidence Index this month reveals rather diverging paths,” said Kenneth Froot, who co-created the index alongside Paul O’Connell. “Confidence has strengthened in Europe and Asia on the back of optimistic economic conditions. However, it has weakened in North America with renewed geopolitical concerns and the FOMC’s pivotal decision to gradually trim its $4.5 trillion portfolio."

Meanwhile, State Street noted that its European iteration of the index swelled 4.7 points to 93.7, and the Asian version rose 3.7 points to reach 102.8.