BofA’s survey, which ran from May 8 to May 14, involved 200 panellists with US$517 billion ($660 billion) in assets under management. Based on the survey’s findings, fund managers have reduced their cash levels from 4.3% in April to 3.9% in May, the biggest monthly drop since February 2024. BofA says that a cash level below 4% can be read as a sell signal for markets. The same survey found a record monthly surge in allocation to equities. Half of the respondents said they are overweight on stocks in May, up from 13% in April, representing the highest allocation to equities since January 2022.
Cash. The one asset class that nearly every investor, rich or poor, has exposure to. Whether you are a billionaire paying top dollar to your fund managers or private bankers to grow your wealth, or a retail investor hoping to get rich buying the dip, you probably have some cash or cash equivalents like treasury bills lying around in your portfolio.
But how much cash should you have in your portfolio? Too much and it looks like you are missing out on returns. Too little and it looks like you are overexposed to the vagaries of the market. According to Bank of America Global Research’s (BofA) Global Fund Manager Survey (FMS) published on May 19, fund managers are leaning a tad too much toward the latter.
