Fund managers decided East beats West

In the three months to June 2002, managers in our quarterly poll cut their average exposure to the US from 50.8% to 47.2%, and lifted their weightings in Japan from 6.8% to 8.7%. Allocations to Europe, the UK and Asia were virtually unchanged. The remainder of the money taken out of the US has gone into emerging markets or held as cash.

As in previous surveys, US fund managers have tended to be less bearish on their own market than other managers. Likewise, they seem to be less convinced about prospects in Japan and are more bullish about Europe.