Expert Investor - Fund Selector Asset Class Report October 2017 FSACR_Oct17_BOOK.v2 | Page 5

THE REPORT
Fund selector attitudes towards the
macro outlook has been volatile,
swinging from neutral to positive every
couple of quarters. At the moment it is
still very much in ‘positive’ territory.
– Over half of fund selectors across Europe
continue to be positive and a few more are
neutral this quarter.
– In Q1 ‘17, we added ‘uncertain’ as an
option. Represented by the grey line, only
one in ten have picked it.
– Across Europe, optimists are in the
majority in all countries except in the
yellow ones (see map to the right) where
more people have a neutral view. Macroeconomic sentiment
This is a snapshot of European fund
selectors, showing their buying and
selling outlooks towards various asset
classes and strategies. Anything above
zero means more fund selectors expect
to increase than reduce their weighting;
below zero shows net sellers. Strongly
positive results we’ve coloured green,
strongly negative is red.
– From the start of 2017 up to now,
European equities, absolute return
strategies, GEM equities and EM bonds
have been the most in-demand asset
classes among European fund buyers
both in terms of sentiments and actual
cash flows. See pages 14 and 15 for the
impressive fund flows.
– In a mirror image, all developed fixed-
income products, even high-yield, as well
as US equities are stuck firmly in the red
with sellers outnumbering buyers. Pan-European net sentiment Q3 ’17
Positive
Neutral
Negative
Macroeconomic sentiment Q3 ’17
Uncertain
100
80
60
40
20
0
Q3 ’14
Buying
Holding
Q3 ’15
Q3 ’16
Q3 ’17
Selling
60
40
20
0
-20
on
l
bo y
or
p
kt
hi
v m
-40
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