What did Bank of America's (NYSE:BAC) Global Fund Manager Survey find about US stock sentiment?

Bank of America's (NYSE:BAC) latest Global Fund Manager Survey found that a net 24% of respondents expect US equities to outperform other global regions — the highest level of bullishness since December 2024 and the third-highest US allocation weight recorded over the past five years. This signals that institutional fund managers are currently more concentrated in US stocks than at almost any point in recent history.

Why are fund managers so bullish on US stocks right now according to the Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) survey?

The article points to performance as the primary driver — the S&P 500 has gained more than 10% year-to-date, significantly outpacing international markets including the UK's FTSE 100 at 5.7%. When a market consistently outperforms, institutional capital tends to chase that performance. The survey reflects fund managers reallocating toward what is working rather than a fundamentally new view on US corporate earnings or valuations.

What happened to UK stock allocations in the Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Global Fund Manager Survey?

Fund manager confidence in UK-listed stocks has fallen to its lowest point since August 2020, with managers actively cutting their allocations to London-listed shares. This contrasts sharply with the bullish positioning on US equities. The FTSE 100's 5.7% year-to-date gain — roughly half the S&P 500's return — appears to be a key driver of the sentiment divergence between the two markets in the survey.

How does the S&P 500 performance compare to the FTSE 100 year-to-date in 2026?

The S&P 500 has gained more than 10% year-to-date, while London's FTSE 100 has risen 5.7% over the same period — a gap of roughly 4-5 percentage points. For global fund managers allocating across regions, this performance differential directly influences portfolio weights. The Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) survey suggests managers are responding to that gap by increasing US exposure and reducing UK exposure in their portfolios.

Is the high fund manager bullishness on US stocks a reliable signal to buy the S&P 500?

This is where caution is warranted. Analysts note that historically high consensus positioning in any single market has occasionally preceded periods of relative underperformance — this is called a contrarian indicator. When nearly everyone is already bullish and positioned in US stocks, the pool of new buyers to push prices higher shrinks. The Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) survey reaching a near five-year high for US bullishness is a data point worth treating with measured scepticism.

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US stock optimism reaches highest level since December 2024

Written by Isaac FrancisPublished Jul 15, 2026, 12:25 PM

A net 24% of respondents to Bank of America's Global Fund Manager Survey expect US equities to outperform other global regions, representing the third-highest allocation weight to US stocks recorded over the past five years.
Fund manager bullishness towards US equities has reached its highest level since December 2024, according to the latest survey results published by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC).
In contrast, investor confidence in UK-listed stocks has fallen to its lowest point since August 2020, with fund managers cutting their allocations to London-listed shares.

The divergence in sentiment reflects a notable gap in year-to-date performance between the two markets, with London's FTSE 100 rising 5.7% year-to-date compared with a gain of more than 10% for the US S&P 500 over the same period.

The survey results suggest that institutional investors are increasingly concentrating equity allocations in the United States at the expense of other developed markets, with the UK experiencing one of the sharpest sentiment declines among the regions tracked.

The shift in fund manager positioning towards US equities comes amid a broader reassessment of global equity weightings, with the performance gap between the S&P 500 and international indices continuing to drive capital towards American markets.

Analysts note that the elevated bullishness towards US stocks recorded in the survey could itself become a contrarian indicator, as historically high consensus positioning in any single market has occasionally preceded periods of relative underperformance.