MARKETS-Investors are fleeing equities, falling back on cash-BofA, Analysis and opinions

LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) – Investors have never been so worried about global growth prospects since the 2008 financial crisis, which led them to raise the share of cash in their portfolios to their highest level since two years, shows a BofA survey of fund managers on Tuesday.

The majority of investors surveyed between March 4 and March 10 said they expected a bear market in 2022 and reduced the weight of equities in their portfolios to their lowest level since May 2020.

At the same time, the level of liquid assets reached 6% and that of raw materials 33%, a record.

Long positions in oil and commodities are now the most popular, says the US investment bank’s survey.

It also notes that managers have revised their expectations for rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve slightly upwards, while at the same time liquidity conditions were deteriorating sharply, falling to their lowest level since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020.

“This is noteworthy because central banks have historically been less inclined to raise rates when liquidity conditions were very poor,” BofA said.

(Report Saikat Chatterjee, French version Marc Angrand)

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