Globe Staff
An investor confidence index maintained by a unit of State Street Corp. fell 3.3 points from December’s revised reading of 104.2 to 100.9 in January.
The confidence reading for North American institutional investors fell to 99.5, a 3.6 point decline from the December level of 103.1, said State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corp.
Harvard University professor Kenneth Froot was involved in developing the index, which uses 100 as a neutral reading.
In a statement, Froot said: “Institutional investors reverted to a more cautious stance this month, balancing improved prospects for global growth against what has been a relatively rapid run-up in prices. With world equity prices up 6.9 percent over three months and 20 percent over six months, valuations have moved up a reasonable amount, prompting some in the institutional community to adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ stance. It remains to be seen whether improved macroeconomic data from the US and policy actions with respect to peripheral European debt will prompt an early reassessment of this stance.”
Headquartered in Boston, State Street Corp. provides financial services to institutional investors.
The graph with this post was included with the State Street press release.