Active portfolio managers suddenly high on equities

Active portfolio managers experienced a surge of confidence last week as the Index of Manager Sentiment recorded a record seven-day spike, pushing the index to its highest level in nearly 10 months. The National Association of Active Investment Managers Inc. index, which asks managers about their overall exposure to the equities market, jumped to 47.75 last week, from 9.97 March 18, the biggest jump since the trade group began collecting data in 2006. NAAIM conducts a weekly survey of its 200 members, who collectively manage more than $14 billion in assets. “This kind of confidence in the market, and at such a spike, is a telling sign, as it comes from highly experienced market watchers who deploy a variety of technical tools to understand and gauge market movements,” Will Hepburn, president of NAAIM and principal of Hepburn Capital Management LLC in Prescott, Ariz., said in a statement. The Littleton, Colo.-based trade group is a non-profit association of registered investment advisers who provide active money management. Many asset management firms are positive about the markets because of the government’s stimulus package, said Neil Bathon, founder of Fuse Research Network LLC, a Boston-based research firm. “If the stimulus package is taking hold, which it seems to be, they are moving from an anxious wait-and-see mode to: ‘This is a great buying opportunity,’” he said. “The asset management firms that we work with anticipate that the stimulus package will work.”