State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corporation has released the results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index for August 2007.
Global Investor Confidence rose by 13 points to a level of 99.3. Leading the way were North American institutional investors, whose risk appetite rose by a full 21 points to 116.5. In Europe, by contrast, investors consolidated the pullback they began last month, and confidence fell 4 points to 86.4. Asian investors remained in a holding pattern, and their confidence level exhibited only a small increase from 83.5 to 84.1.
The State Street Investor Confidence Index measures investor confidence on a quantitative basis by analysing the actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors.
The Index was developed through State Street Global Markets’ research partnership, State Street Associates, by Harvard University professor Ken Froot and State Street Associates Director Paul O’Connel.
“Given the recent market dislocation stemming from the sub-prime mortgage crisis, this month’s Investor Confidence readings may seem paradoxical,” says Froot. “However, many investors accumulated assets at relatively attractive price levels across a broad cross-section of markets.”