State Street Investor Confidence Index - released 10:00 am

Full report here

Investor Confidence Index rises from 104.3 to 104.5 in January

26/01/2010

Boston, January 26, 2010 – State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT), today released the results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index® for January 2010.

Globally, Investor Confidence rose fractionally by 0.2 points to 104.5 from a revised December level of 104.3. The mood was upbeat in North America, where confidence showed an increase of 4.4 points over December’s reading of 103.5 to settle at 107.9. In Europe, by contrast, institutional investors were more wary, and their confidence fell 5.6 points to 98.9 from the December level of 104.5. Amongst Asian institutional investors, confidence rose slightly to 98.1 from a level of 97.5 in December.

Developed through State Street Global Markets’ research partnership, State Street Associates, by Harvard University professor Ken Froot and State Street Associates Paul O’Connell, the State Street Investor Confidence Index measures investor confidence on a quantitative basis by analyzing the actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors. It is not a survey, but rather fact-based. The index is based on a financial theory that assigns precise meaning to changes in investor risk appetite. The more of their portfolio that institutional investors are willing to devote to equities, the greater their risk appetite or confidence.

“Institutional investors had a number of competing claims on their attention this month,” commented Froot. “Impressive growth numbers out of China for 2009 buttress anecdotal evidence that expansion continues apace there, lending a positive tone to a number of asset classes. At the same time, there is some evidence that while activity has picked up to a substantial degree in the developed markets, the recent pace of improvement may be difficult to sustain, all the more so against a backdrop of uncertainty around monetary policy and regulatory change more generally.”

“The divergence between North American and European confidence this month reflects some of the underlying fundamentals,” added O’Connell. “While there have been some mildly positive data surprises in Europe, there is continued concern about the way forward in addressing the fiscal difficulties of a number of the periphery economies, and this has dulled investor enthusiasm. The improvement in Asian sentiment brings the Index for that region back its September 2008 level.”

State Street Investor Confidence Index - 10:00

Full report here Investor Confidence Index Rises from 100.8 to 103.9 in December 29/12/2009 Boston, December 29, 2009 – State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT), today released the results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index® for December 2009. Global Investor Confidence rose by 3.1 points to 103.9 from November’s level of 100.8. In Asia, investor confidence rebounded by 6.3 points, rising to 97.5 from November’s reading of 91.2. Confidence remained largely constant in other regions. Investors’ sentiment rose moderately in North America from 102.2 to 103.1, while in Europe risk appetite declined slightly from 104.8 to 104.6. Developed through State Street Global Markets’ research partnership, State Street Associates, by Harvard University professor Ken Froot and State Street Associates Paul O’Connell, the State Street Investor Confidence Index measures investor confidence on a quantitative basis by analyzing the actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors. It is not a survey, but rather fact-based. The index is based on a financial theory that assigns precise meaning to changes in investor risk appetite. The more of their portfolio that institutional investors are willing to devote to equities, the greater their risk appetite or confidence. “This month’s up-tick in global investor confidence stemmed largely from an improvement in the mood in Asia, where risk appetite rose to an eight-month high,” commented Froot. “Elsewhere portfolio reallocations were modest. With three of the four indices over the neutral level of 100, institutions are continuing to add to their risky asset positions, but at a slower pace than was evident earlier in the year. Investors will be watching for signs of renewed economic growth, and well-designed exit strategies from policy makers, before making more significant reallocations towards risk in 2010.” “For the year as a whole, investor confidence staged a meaningful recovery from the historic lows of twelve months ago, leading the way ahead of other measures such as equity prices, consumer confidence and surveys of investor expectations,” added O’Connell. “By quantitatively measuring the actual risky asset allocations of institutional investors, the State Street Index shows that institutions were ‘ahead of the curve’ in anticipating the risk rally this year.”

State Street Investor Confidence Index - 10:00 am

Full report here Investor Confidence Index Declines from 122.8 to 118.1 in September 29/09/2009 Boston, September 29, 2009 – State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT), today released the results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index® for September 2009. Global Investor Confidence fell by 4.7 points to 118.1 from a revised August level of 122.8. Regionally, there was some divergence in risk appetite. The confidence of North American institutional investors declined slightly by 4.6 points from 118.3 to 113.7. Elsewhere, however, the tone was more upbeat. European Investor Confidence rose from a revised 109.3 to 110.9, while Asian Investor Confidence increased from a revised 91.9 to 93.1. Developed through State Street Global Markets’ research partnership, State Street Associates, by Harvard University professor Ken Froot and State Street Associates Director Paul O’Connell, the State Street Investor Confidence Index measures investor confidence on a quantitative basis by analyzing the actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors. The index is based on financial theory that assigns precise meaning to changes in investor risk appetite, or the willingness of investors to allocate their portfolios to equities. The more of their portfolio that institutional investors are willing to devote to equities, the greater their risk appetite or confidence. “After eight consecutive increases in Global Investor Confidence, which took the Index from an all-time low of 82.1 during the financial crisis to a five-year high of 122.8, institutional investors took a breather this month and consolidated their holdings of risky assets,” commented Froot. “This month's reading of 118.1 is still comfortably in the range associated with the accumulation of risk exposures, as a reading of 100 signifies neither accumulation nor decumulation. However, there is a recognition that a portion of the recent rise in global equity prices can be attributed to liquidity expansion rather than fundamental opportunities. Institutional investors are pausing to assess this balance.” “The regional variation that we noted last month has continued into this month,” added O’Connell. “During the financial crisis and the subsequent recovery, European investor risk appetite has lagged that of North American institutions by about three months. This month, the European Confidence Index registered its sixth consecutive monthly increase, but the rate of increase has slowed. As is true of North American investors, European and Asian institutions will be weighing the prospects for long-term improvement in fundamentals against the eventual withdrawal of the ample liquidity currently being provided by policy makers.”

State Street Investor Confidence - 10:10am

Investor Confidence Index Rises from 119.4 to 122.9 in August 25/08/2009 Boston, August 25, 2009 – State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT), today released the results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index® for August 2009. Global Investor Confidence rose by 3.5 points to 122.9 from July’s level of 119.4. Looking across the regions, the confidence of North American institutional investors declined slightly by 2.2 points from 120.6 to 118.4, a decline echoed among Asian investors, whose confidence fell 2.3 points from 94.1 to 91.8. By contrast, European institutional investors displayed increased risk appetite, and their confidence benchmark rose 4.3 points to 109.2 from 104.9 last month. Developed through State Street Global Markets’ research partnership, State Street Associates, by Harvard University professor Ken Froot and State Street Associates Director Paul O’Connell, the State Street Investor Confidence Index measures investor confidence on a quantitative basis by analyzing the actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors. The index is based on financial theory that assigns precise meaning to changes in investor risk appetite, or the willingness of investors to allocate their portfolios to equities. The more of their portfolio that institutional investors are willing to devote to equities, the greater their risk appetite or confidence. “This month’s increase represents the eighth consecutive improvement in Global Investor Confidence, and places the risk appetite of institutional investors firmly in the range that is associated with accumulation of risk exposures,” commented Froot. “At the same time, the rate of increase in the Index has moderated relative to some months ago, suggesting that institutions are being somewhat selective in their allocations.” “This month we note some increased regional variation across the Indices,” added O’Connell. “While European institutional investors continued to ‘catch up’ with their North American counterparts, in terms of reallocating out of cash, North American and Asian institutions displayed some ambivalence about further reallocations, given trends over the last six months. Keeping in mind that a level of 100 denotes ‘neutral’ for the Index – the level at which investors are neither reducing nor increasing their allocations to risky assets – we can see European confidence remains somewhat below that of North American institutions, and that caution prevails in Asia.” Full report here About State Street Global Markets State Street Global Markets provides specialized investment research and trading in foreign exchange, equities, fixed income and derivatives. Its goal is to enhance and preserve portfolio values for asset managers and asset owners. From its unique position at the crossroads of the global markets, it creates and unlocks value for its clients with original flow-based research, innovative portfolio strategies, trade process optimization, and global connectivity across multiple asset classes and markets. State Street Global Markets’ research team of leading academic and industry experts is committed to continually advancing the science, including theory and application of its proprietary investor behavior research and innovative portfolio & risk management technologies to help its clients challenge conventional thinking, shape ideas, make more informed investment decisions and deliver measurable results. About the State Street Investor Confidence Index® The index is released globally at 10 a.m. Eastern time in Boston on the last Tuesday of each month. More information on the State Street Investor Confidence Index is available at http://www.statestreet.com/investorconfidenceindex. About State Street State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is the world's leading provider of financial services to institutional investors including investment servicing, investment management and investment research and trading. With $16.4 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $1.6 trillion in assets under management at June 30, 2009, State Street operates in 27 countries and more than 100 geographic markets worldwide. For more information, visit State Street’s web site at www.statestreet.com.

Investor confidence Index - 10:50AM

Investor Confidence Index Rises from 115.8 to 119.4 in July Boston, July 28, 2009 – State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT), today released the results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index® for July 2009. Global Investor Confidence rose by 3.6 points to 119.4 from a revised June level of 115.8. Across the regions, the confidence of North American institutional investors increased significantly from 113.8 to 120.5 while European investor confidence rose even more swiftly from 95.9 to 104.6. The confidence of Asian investors rose as well, but only by 1.9 points to 94.2. Developed through State Street Global Markets’ research partnership, State Street Associates, by Harvard University professor Ken Froot and State Street Associates Director Paul O’Connell, the State Street Investor Confidence Index measures investor confidence on a quantitative basis by analyzing the actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors. The index is based on financial theory that assigns precise meaning to changes in investor risk appetite, or the willingness of investors to allocate their portfolios to equities. The more of their portfolio that institutional investors are willing to devote to equities, the greater their risk appetite or confidence. “The index results strongly reflect increasing investor strategies designed with a view that the global recession will wane more rapidly than many had feared,” commented Froot. “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.” “European confidence is much stronger this month, partly because of the concerns around the US seeming to abate, but also because the contagion that might have brought down their own financial institutions seems to be dissipating fast,” added O’Connell. “Asia has seen less variation in expected growth rates than the West and confidence there continues to strengthen, although there was never such an Asian wholesale fear of risk. Full report here