Turmoil dulls investors’ appetite for risk

Confidence among global institutional investors continued to slump this month as increased market turmoil has caused investors to lose their appetite for risk, according to the State Street Investor Confidence Index. Confidence among institutional investors fell 2.4 points to 70.7, from a revised August level of 73.1. The decline brings the index to its third lowest level since its inception in September 1998, when it read 77.2. North American institutional investors' confidence increased 0.9 points to 76.1, up from a revised reading of 75.2 in August. Leading the decline were European investors, whose confidence fell 5.4 points to 81.8, down from 76.4 last month. Confidence among Asian institutional investors fell 2.5 points to 88.3, from a revised reading of 85.8 in August. "We have discovered that alongside the diminution in risk appetite, there is a pronounced increase in the heterogeneity of investor positions," Paul O'Connell, State Street Global Markets LLC’s associate director, said in a statement. State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of Boston-based State Street Corp., managed $1.9 trillion in assets as of June 30.