Financial advisors and investors have renewed confidence in cannabis stocks, U.S. equities, and emerging market classes, a new survey revealed.
The second quarter 2019 Advisor and Investor Sentiment Survey from Horizons ETFs Management Canada showed that the respondents made up of advisors and investors has bullish expectations for 10 of 14 asset classes after seeing first-quarter gains in most of the indices that the asset management firm monitors.
The cannabis market remained popular with the investors, who reported 70% optimism, a 14% increase from the fourth quarter of 2018, following the 54.55% return recorded by the North American Marijuana Index. However, advisors were more cautious about this market, extending their support to 47% up from 31% in the previous quarter.
Advisors showed more confidence on U.S. equities after seeing the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq-100 Index first-quarter rallies. Advisors expressed more optimism on the Nasdaq with 67% bullishness after a 16.57% growth in its performance. And even though advisors revealed lower confidence in the S&P 500 (down by 5% to 62%), the index still had the third-highest overall rating among these professionals.
As for investors, they raised their confidence in the Nasdaq to 54% from 41% in the previous quarter, while nearly half of them were optimistic on the S&P 500.
The Horizons survey also revealed that both advisors and investors were “overwhelmingly neutral” on the U.S. bond performance, despite seeing a 2.85% growth in the U.S. 7-10 Year Bond Index.
Emerging markets space was also a source of high confidence, with advisors leading the way, after seeing the MSCI Emerging Market Index posted a 9.91% performance gain in the first three months of 2019. Advisors boosted their confidence in the market by 18% to a 66% bullishness while investors expanded theirs by 8% to 45% bullishness.
