Most of Europe may still be in love with absolute returns, but some countries are starting to buck the trend.
The latest EIE Fund Selector Sentiment Survey has revealed that fund selectors and asset allocators in Germany, Norway and especially France have seen sharp dips in the numbers of people who are planning on buying more.
Instead there has been a transfer to those who are intending to hold onto their current weightings.
France is the most extreme of the three. In Q1 2015 more than 80% of all French fund selectors were looking to buy more absolute return products. By the second quarter, that had shot down to around 30%.
Similar, but not as sharp downturns have occured in Germany and Norway.
For all three countries, there hasn’t been a sell off of the products, just a transfer from buyers to holders. So it looks like the supply/demand imbalance might be about to start levelling off a little.
