Investors warn of overinvestment as market sentiment stays bullish

Global investors are increasingly worried that companies are overinvesting, just as market sentiment remains “uber bullish” and further asset gains look harder to achieve, Bank of America’s monthly fund manager survey showed this week.

The poll of 162 managers overseeing $440 billion found cash balances rose to 3.4 per cent from January’s record low 3.2 per cent, while investors stayed heavily overweight commodities and equities and deeply underweight bonds.

Macro optimism improved further, with expectations for a global “boom” at the highest since February 2022 and forecasts for earnings growth topping 10 per cent, their strongest since 2021. But a record share of respondents said companies are spending too aggressively, and chief investment officers now favour strengthening balance sheets over increasing capital expenditure.

AI bubbles once again topped the list of investors’ biggest tail risks.