US stocks haven't been this unpopular since the financial crisis

Investors are souring on US stocks to an extent not seen since the start of the financial crisis.

Global fund managers have a 20% net underweight allocation to US equities, which is the lowest since January 2008.

That means they're looking to other geographies and even other asset classes for returns — perhaps due to outright bearishness on stocks, but more likely because they see better opportunities elsewhere, with benchmarks like the S&P 500 already sitting near record highs.

Managers shying away from the heavily-weighted tech sector was inevitable, given their outperformance, but it can't be ignored that they're currently the biggest driver of earnings growth, excluding energy stocks.

And speaking of earnings growth — which has historically been the biggest driver of share price appreciation — sentiment around it is also going in the wrong direction. A net 22% of survey respondents say corporate profits won't "improve substantially" over the next 12 months.

Source: Bloomberg Pro Terminal

Junior Trader Stefan Panteleev

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