Institutional Investors Retreat from U.S. Stocks Amid Shifting Sentiment
Institutional investors are rapidly scaling back exposure to U.S. equities, marking one of the most dramatic shifts in global capital allocation since the 2008 financial crisis. Bank of America’s latest Global Fund Manager Survey shows a net 38% of fund managers now underweight U.S. stocks—the most bearish positioning since May 2023.
The reversal has been staggering. Over just five months, net positioning collapsed by nearly 70 percentage points—the steepest decline in the survey’s history. This exodus coincides with growing appetite for alternative assets as traditional market confidence erodes.