Investor confidence dips in October

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist

28 October 2022

The State Street Global Markets Investor Confidence Index (ICI) for October 2022 has fallen by 4.6 points to 104.3, down from September’s result of 108.9.

The decrease comes after European ICI dramatically declined by 14.4 points to 86.2 and North American ICI fell by 5.1 points to 104.0. Asian ICI somewhat salvaged the global index by rising 4.1 points to 104.5.

Rajeev Bhargava, Head of Investor Behaviour Research at State Street Associates, said the decline in Europe and the United States was largely driven by fears that the European Central Bank will accelerate their planned rate hikes because it has fallen behind in the global tightening cycle.

“Risk appetite contracted in October for the first time in five months as the Global ICI fell 4.6 points to 104.3,” Bhargava said.

“In addition, growing unease around UK fiscal outlook contributed to the volatility across European markets and in turn to the decline in confidence locally.

Interestingly, confidence of Asia investors was more resilient in October as the regional ICI increased over 4 points.”

The ICI emerged out of a partnership between State Street Associates, the research and advisory arm of State Street Global Markets, and FDO Partners to analyse the buying and selling trends and behaviour of institutional investors to measure their general risk appetite or ‘confidence’.

A reading of 100 is neutral and indicates investors are neither increasing nor decreasing their allocations to risky assets.