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Confidence among institutional investors rose sharply in July according to the State Street Index report released on Tuesday.
Unlike other consumer and investor confidence surveys, the State Street Index measures institutional investor confidence by looking at actual levels of risk in their portfolios. This is not a subjective attitude survey. It measures confidence directly by assessing the changes in investor holdings of equities.

The index climbed 3.6 points to 119.4 for a five-year high. According to the State Street press release Tuesday, “Investors are now adding risk to their portfolios at an impressive rate, faster than we have seen in several years. In fact, this is the highest level the ICI Global index has reached since mid 2004. That is an impressive turnaround over last October, when the ICI Global reached its lowest-ever-recorded level of 82.1. Note the marked contrast with Consumer Confidence, which remains more focused on lagging unemployment.”

According to State Street, “the more of their portfolios that professional investors are willing to devote to riskier as opposed to safer investments, the greater their risk appetite or confidence.”

This is just one more set of data that demonstrates that most monetary experts see clearly that recovery has begun.

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