During this period of extreme market volatility brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, institutional investors are holding on to their positive long-term outlook, Greenwich Associates reported last week.
The Greenwich Investor Resilience Index showed that investors were not yet concerned that the pandemic and resulting social and economic aftershock would significantly affect their ability achieve portfolio goals over three to five years.
The long-term mean score on March 25 was 8.1 on a 10-point confidence scale; responses ranged from 6 to 10.
As for the rest of 2020, however, investors had a much grimmer view. The index showed that confidence in their ability to achieve portfolio goals this year has already plummeted.
The short-term mean score on the same scale was 4.9, with responses ranging from a low of 1 to a high of 9.
Greenwich questioned whether institutional investors' long-term outlook was naïve. Would funding levels and short-term cash requirements prompt them to make decisions that could make longer-term recovery much more challenging?
Or would asset managers and consultants be able to keep clients on the straight and narrow by reminding them that "this too shall pass" and providing short-term advice?
Greenwich asked institutional investors what information they wanted to hear from their asset managers about the COVID-19 outbreak.