Fund managers are at their gloomiest about US stocks since before Lehman Brothers collapsed and they have voted Japan their least favoured region – even as they became more positive on global growth for the first time this year.
The findings, part of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s monthly fund manager survey, come as data this week showed Japan’s economy has slowed to a virtual standstill while a series of soft US economic data have led investors to factor in an economic slowdown in the world’s largest economy.
The long-running survey asks investors whether they are overweight, underweight or neutral on various asset classes and regions relative to their benchmarks.