Investor Confidence Drops in November

November 23, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Investor confidence fell in November, according to the State Street Global Markets Investor Confidence Index.

The index, created by Harvard University’s Ken Froot and State Street Associates’ Paul O’Connell for State Street’s investment and research arm, fell by 3.9 points from October’s 89.2. The pre-election run-up in confidence seems to have subsided slightly, according to the company, but the index still shows some amount of net purchasing of riskier assets by global investors since September, when the index was at 84.7. The index has seen low volatility since the beginning of the summer, according to the company (See State Street: Investor Confidence Increases in August ).

Breaking confidence down by geographical area, Europe appears highly concerned by the rising Euro. As a result, investors there are selling risky assets. On the other end of the spectrum, Asia, buoyed by solid regional growth, is snatching up riskier investments. The US sits somewhere in between, although it is adding risky investments in small doses, according to State Street.

The Index, which was launched in September of last year, is an economic indicator for asset owners, investment managers and central banks that aims to track the common buying patterns of global institutional investors.

For more information, please see www.statestreet.com/investorconfidenceindex .

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