INVESTORS SELL EURO AND BUY GOLD AS FEAR OVER EURO CRISIS INCREASES
The euro crisis has overtaken inflation as UK investors’ top financial fear, according to a barometer of investor sentiment from financial marketing specialists dianomi™.
From a panel of over 1,750 UK investors, 26% cited the euro crisis as their top current fear rising from only 9% in January. Meanwhile, inflation has dropped from being the number one fear in January to the number three fear after recession. Fear of unemployment has also dropped from 15% to 9%.
| Rank | Which of these economic outcomes do you fear the most? | Jul 2011 % | Jan 2011 % | 6-month %change |
| 1 | Euro Crisis | 26 | 9 | +17 |
| 2 | Recession | 17 | 17 | — |
| 3 | Inflation | 16 | 22 | -6 |
| 4 | Unemployment | 9 | 15 | -6 |
| 5 | Higher taxes | 7 | 10 | -3 |
| 6 | Higher interest rates | 6 | 7 | -1 |
| 7 | Crisis in China | 6 | 7 | -1 |
| 8 | Drop in Sterling | 6 | 4 | +2 |
| 9 | Lower property prices | 4 | 4 | — |
| 10 | Deflation | 3 | 6 | -3 |
The research also investigated which asset classes and sectors are proving most attractive to UK investors in the current climate. Investors are increasingly buying gold and silver while selling gilts and corporate bonds. There appears to be less demand for equities (especially growth stocks), property and alternative investments. For the first time, as many investors reported buying ‘gold & silver’ as buying ‘equity income’ products.
| Which asset classes are you considering buying or selling? | Buy Jul 11 (%) | Sell Jul 11 (%) | Net Jul 11 (%) | Buy Jan 11 (%) | Sell Jan 11 (%) | Net Jan 11 (%) | Buy Aug 10 (%) | Sell Aug 10 (%) | Net Aug 10 (%) |
| Equity growth |
40 |
15 |
26 |
55 |
7 |
48 |
51 |
13 |
38 |
| Equity income |
38 |
12 |
26 |
47 |
6 |
41 |
37 |
8 |
29 |
| Alternative investments |
22 |
17 |
5 |
29 |
9 |
20 |
17 |
13 |
4 |
| Gold and silver |
38 |
10 |
28 |
30 |
11 |
19 |
19 |
10 |
9 |
| Property |
29 |
25 |
4 |
32 |
15 |
17 |
24 |
24 |
0 |
| Fixed rate savings bonds |
30 |
23 |
7 |
28 |
17 |
11 |
29 |
26 |
3 |
| Cash |
27 |
23 |
4 |
18 |
15 |
3 |
22 |
42 |
-20 |
| Forex |
9 |
18 |
-9 |
13 |
12 |
1 |
8 |
9 |
-1 |
| Corporate bonds |
16 |
23 |
-8 |
16 |
17 |
-1 |
24 |
12 |
12 |
| Gilts |
10 |
22 |
-12 |
9 |
18 |
-9 |
8 |
13 |
-5 |
Investment demand for all sectors has fallen except Pharmaceuticals and Utilities, which have increased. The biggest drops were in Europe, Retail, North America and Financials.
| Which sectors are you considering buying or selling? | Buy Jul 11(%) | Sell Jul 11(%) | Net Jul 11(%) | Buy Jan 11(%) | Sell Jan 11(%) | Net Jan 11(%) | Buy Aug 10(%) | Sell Aug 10(%) | Net Aug 10(%) |
| Emerging markets |
41 |
9 |
32 |
51 |
4 |
47 |
48.9 |
5.4 |
43.5 |
| Natural Resources |
41 |
6 |
35 |
45 |
4 |
41 |
31.8 |
3.9 |
27.8 |
| Asia |
34 |
8 |
26 |
41 |
4 |
37 |
31.7 |
4 |
27.7 |
| Commodities |
30 |
11 |
19 |
36 |
6 |
30 |
25.3 |
8.1 |
17.2 |
| Pharmaceuticals |
40 |
8 |
33 |
34 |
5 |
29 |
28.9 |
6 |
22.9 |
| Utilities |
37 |
8 |
29 |
33 |
6 |
27 |
29.3 |
7.3 |
22 |
| Technology & telecoms |
29 |
11 |
18 |
33 |
7 |
26 |
23.5 |
12.8 |
10.7 |
| Infrastructure |
20 |
12 |
8 |
22 |
8 |
14 |
14.7 |
8.4 |
6.3 |
| Financials |
16 |
26 |
-9 |
23 |
13 |
10 |
30.6 |
24.6 |
6 |
| North America |
12 |
23 |
-11 |
18 |
12 |
6 |
9.1 |
22.3 |
-13.2 |
| Europe |
11 |
31 |
-19 |
16 |
15 |
1 |
17 |
22 |
-5 |
| Retail |
8 |
32 |
-23 |
12 |
18 |
-5 |
11 |
30 |
-19 |
dianomi also investigated the preferences of UK investors when it comes to foreign currency. Investors appear very negative on the euro with almost half (48%) describing it as a sell. They also appear negative on the US dollar while very positive on the Swiss franc, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar.
| Currency | Buy Jul 11 (%) | Sell Jul 11 (%) | Net Jul11 (%) | Buy Jan 11 (%) | Sell Jan 11 (%) | Net Jan 11 (%) |
| US dollar |
23 |
27 |
-4 |
19 |
12 |
7 |
| Pound sterling |
27 |
18 |
9 |
18 |
10 |
8 |
| Euro |
9 |
48 |
-39 |
17 |
20 |
3 |
| Swiss franc |
29 |
8 |
20 |
13 |
6 |
7 |
| Australian dollar |
26 |
10 |
16 |
11 |
8 |
2 |
| Canadian dollar |
21 |
9 |
12 |
11 |
7 |
4 |
| Japanese yen |
19 |
15 |
4 |
6 |
10 |
-4 |
| New Zealand dollar |
15 |
10 |
5 |
6 |
9 |
-3 |
Cabell de Marcellus, co-founder of dianomi, comments, “As the euro crisis deepens, UK investors appear to be shifting away from the euro and moving to defensive options like gold, silver and the swiss franc. They also appear to be buying pharmaceuticals and utilities and selling European equities, retail, North America, financials and other sectors.”
dianomi is setting new standards in customer acquisition services for the financial sector and its mass affluent audience. dianomi’s client list includes blue chip financial services brands including St. James’s Place, Fidelity, CMC Markets, Henderson Global Investors, Hargreaves Lansdown, Aberdeen Asset Management, Investec and many more.
dianomi-investorsurvey-H2-2011 (PDF)
ENDS
Notes to editors
Methodology: The survey was conducted by dianomi directly with 1,767 UK investors participating in July 2011
About dianomi
The dianomi™ marketing platform enables global brands in the finance and automotive sectors to acquire new customers by targeting the mass affluent across an unparalleled network of white-label partnerships with premium publishers such as The Guardian, Reuters, Yahoo, MSN etc. 30% of the leads dianomi provides its clients come from the UK’s 10% most affluent.
In order to maximize ROI, dianomi’s level2insight™ provides advertisers campaign optimisation, sector benchmarking, in-depth demographics and customer surveys.
For more information, please contact:
By Julian Barkes at dianomi: [email protected] tel: 020 7802 5530
