High net worth individuals and business owners across the United States are expressing growing intentions to invest as US markets continue to hit record highs this year, according to UBS Global Wealth Management's (GWM) new quarterly investor sentiment survey, which covered more than 3,800 wealthy investors and entrepreneurs in 17 countries.
The survey shows US investors remain positive on the US stock market but continue to rank politics and the national debt as top concerns. Half of US investors see a diversified portfolio as a hedge against US-China trade tensions specifically, in line with UBS GWM's own views, compared with 41 per cent who favour cash.High net worth individuals and business owners across the United States are expressing growing intentions to invest as US markets continue to hit record highs this year, according to UBS Global Wealth Management's (GWM) new quarterly investor sentiment survey, which covered more than 3,800 wealthy investors and entrepreneurs in 17 countries.#
“We are pleased to see a substantial increase in investors willing to put more money in the market. Wealthy Americans are concerned about the political environment and US-China trade tensions but we are encouraged that they see diversification as an important way of managing some of these risks."
Overall, 41 per cent of US investor respondents expressed optimism on the global economy and 30 per cent expressed pessimism. This represented an improvement from the 37 per cent who expressed optimism and the 31 per cent who expressed pessimism in the Investor Sentiment survey released in the second quarter.
Thirty seven per cent also expressed an intention to invest more in the markets, up significantly from 26 per cent in the previous quarter. Most investors remain optimistic on US stocks specifically, although the proportion has declined slightly from 57 per cent of respondents to 53 per cent.
US business owners were especially positive, with 81 per cent optimistic about their business compared with 75 per cent in the previous quarter. Overall, 46 per cent said they intended to hire more workers versus 20 per cent in the quarter prior.
Business owners' top concern was healthcare costs, as cited by 61 per cent of respondents, up 5 percentage points quarter over quarter. This worry was echoed in part by US high net worth investors, who cited healthcare costs as their third highest concern.
Globally, sentiment also improved in the most recent quarter. The proportion of investors optimistic about the global economy remained unchanged on 51 per cent, while 46 per cent of investors planned to invest more, an increase of 4 percentage points.
After the United States, the region with the fastest-growing willingness to invest was the European Union, after the European Central Bank signaled it would consider fresh stimulus in response to the European economic slowdown. Some 47 per cent of European respondents outside Switzerland said they planned to invest more, up 8 percentage points quarter over quarter.
UBS surveyed 3,899 investors and business owners with at least $1M in investable assets (for investors) or at least $250k in annual revenue and at least one employee other than themselves (for business owners), from June 3 - July 6, 2019. The global sample was split across Brazil, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. (DS)
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