Mood among private investors remains very gloomy: ING

Private investors in the Netherlands remain extremely gloomy about their prospects, according to ING, which gauges sentiment in its Investor Barometer on a monthly basis. The AEX index on the Amsterdam stock exchange bounced back from its lowest level in more than a year in July, but investors believe that the rebound is temporary and that stock prices will come under pressure again.

On average, the AEX is expected to be at 650 points in October. This position is the bleakest forecast of the past year and a half and would mean that the stock market recovery of the past few weeks would be largely canceled out.

Currently, the main index at the Damrak is clearly above 700 points again. "Under the influence of long-term interest rates, which fell sharply in recent weeks, equities showed a nice recovery," explained Bob Homan, head of the ING Investment Office.

But investors are still negative about the general economic situation in the Netherlands, according to ING, now that the global stock markets are under the spell of recession fears. Their opinion on the value of their own investment portfolio also became even more negative in July compared to previous months.

However, investors generally expect an improvement in their own financial situation in the next three months. As a result, ING's indicator of investor confidence remained at 69 points in July, the same score as in June.

This makes investors more pessimistic than at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Only in February of this year, confidence was slightly lower at 68 points. Any position above 100 indicates optimism, below 100 indicates pessimism.