More than 90% of respondents to Feri’s annual survey on investment trends – which canvassed nearly 70 asset managers in Germany in the autumn of 2014 – believe equities will fare ‘well’ or ‘very well’ this year. 

Similar to the results of other Feri surveys in recent years, just over half of respondents had a similarly positive outlook for bonds.

Asset managers’ sentiment towards real estate, however, worsened, with just 75% of respondents seeing good opportunities for selling investments in the asset class this year, compared with more than 90% last year.

For 2015, respondents to Feri’s survey pointed to the growing potential of emerging markets – both in equities and fixed income.

Investor optimism for emerging-market bonds increased by 50% year on year, while positive views on emerging market and Asia ex Japan equities increased by 16% and 18%, respectively.

Respondents were shown to be increasingly wary of German equities and US bonds, while they remain pessimistic about European bonds, particularly investment-grade bonds, Feri said.

Christian Michel, who heads the funds team at Feri EuroRating, said the recent widening of spreads in Europe’s peripheral countries would not be a major driver for returns due to “ongoing uncertainties”.

He said the expectations expressed in Feri’s survey were “most likely” to remain unchanged, even after taking into account the ECB’s recent quantitative easing announcement. 

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