Bonds are more popular with investors than at any time during the last decade amid a flight to safety in turbulent markets, Merrill Lynch's monthly survey of global fund managers has found.
Karen Olney, European equities strategist at Merrill Lynch, said: “Investors care little about inflation with recession on their doorstep and the banking system under pressure”. Inflation expectations were at their lowest since 2001, she added.
The survey, of 186 fund managers who control $641bn of assets, was conducted before the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the government bail-out of AIG, the US insurance group. However it found 4 per cent were overweight in bonds and 37 per cent underweight in equities.