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Fund Manager Survey: Highest Level of Bearishness Since Financial Crisis

edited June 2019 in Fund Discussions
“The results of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's latest fund manager survey (FMS) are "the most bearish" since the financial crisis.During the month of June, the average fund manager flipped from overweight global equities to underweight. Specifically, a net 21% of fund managers were underweight, the lowest level since March 2009. That measure represents a 32-percentage point drop month over month, the second biggest one-month drop since the survey’s inception.”

“ ‘FMS investors have not been this bearish since the Global Financial Crisis, with pessimism driven by trade war and recession concerns,” writes Bank of America's chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett. “The tactical ‘pain trade’ is higher yields and higher stocks, particularly if the Fed cuts rates on Wednesday.’ “

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fund-managers-most-bearish-since-crisis-112100919.html

Comments

  • Today the market is expensive and the earnings have been deaccelerating. Money managers I follow are having difficulties finding compelling stocks to buy.
  • Managers are bearish. The sky is falling !! They cant sleep at night and think robots will eat their lunch. I think Investors are standing pat instead of guessing the future. Don't just do something - stand there. No rate cuts Wednesday.
  • edited June 2019
    The headline is telling. More fuel for the bulls. S@P near all time highs and junk bonds at all time highs. Tops are made amid excessive optimism not pessimism. Unless of course this time it is different.
  • Sven said:

    Today the market is expensive and the earnings have been deaccelerating. Money managers I follow are having difficulties finding compelling stocks to buy.

    They've all said this for years.
  • edited June 2019
    JoJo26 said:

    They've all said this for years.

    Mario Gabelli says trade deal priced in 'to a degree' but he sees a lot of interesting 'nuggets' in market. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mario-gabelli-says-trade-deal-000532587.html

    Just for you jojo. I assume you’re familiar with ever bullish Gabelli? But more to the point, the article I linked initially points out that there was a flip-flop in sentiment from May to June. In other words, the majority of fund managers surveyed in May reported being overweight equities (vs the June underweight reported.)

    I’d agree with jojo that this probably isn’t a big deal. Sentiment comes and goes. As Junkster points out it’s market performance that matters - not sentiment.
  • Not sure why this is just for me...
  • There is always and opportunity somewhere. Yes, even in a recession. That's just stating the obvious. However, broadly, investment managers have been complaining for years about finding it difficult to identify value.
  • Opportunities are always abound, but at what price. Warren Buffet invested heavily during the 2008 housing crisis.
  • They are comparing sentiment today with the very bottom of the last bear -- in March 2009? Everybody was bearish at that point, and for good reason.
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