Half Of Fund Managers See Weakening Global Economy

About half of fund managers polled expect a weaker global economy in the next 12 months, according Merrill Lynch’s Survey of Fund Managers for June. That percentage, says the firm, is “the most pessimistic view in six years” – last month, only 14% held that view. In addition, one in three surveyed expects corporate profits to deteriorate, up from 9% last month. Given current market conditions, cash levels rose from 4.1% last month to 4.5%, according to the survey, with 29% of fund managers describing themselves as “overweight cash.” With fears that central banks may be hawkish to keep inflation at bay, fund managers have “responded with a ‘textbook’ country rotation, in which U.S. stocks have proved far more resilient to stock market turmoil than either emerging market or Japanese equities, says Merrill Lynch.