Sophisticated investors, though, are far more cautious about the challenges ahead. Just 10% of fund managers expect a V-shaped recovery, according to a survey released by Bank of America on Tuesday.
Three-quarters of those fund managers expect a more modest U-shaped recovery — where the economy stagnates for a period of time before gradually recovering — or even a dreaded W-shaped recovery, which entails a rapid rebound followed by a second serious decline and an eventual rebound.
That relative pessimism explains why only 25% of fund managers polled by Bank of America believe that this is a new bull market. In fact, more than two-thirds think this is just a bear market rally, or “dead-cat bounce” in the midst of a longer-term bear market.
These sophisticated investors are sitting on lots of cash. Cash balances for the funds in the survey were at 5.7% in May, well above the 10-year average of 4.7% and the pre-crisis level of 4% in February.
“Investors [are] still extremely bearish,” Bank of America strategists wrote in the report.
‘It will take a long time’
The biggest fear is that a second wave of coronavirus infections will derail the economy, the survey found. And the second biggest “tail risk” listed was that the economy will suffer from “permanently high unemployment.”
Randall Kroszner, who served as a top Federal Reserve official during the 2008 financial crisis, thinks the economic optimism may be misplaced.
“We went down like a V, but we’re not going to come up like a V,” Kroszner told CNN Business. “It will take a long time for the economy to fully recover because there are fundamental changes that are occurring. The ways people consume, travel and work are going to change.”
Kroszner, now a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, pushed back against the idea that central banks and national governments can quickly restore the economy to pre-crisis levels.
“It’s not going to be possible to go back to where we were in February or March,” he said.
Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, is optimistic on America’s ability to recover in the long run. Yet even he is trying to dial back expectations of a rapid recovery.
Vaccine hopes fire up markets
Contrast that with the near-euphoria on Wall Street.
On March 23, the Nasdaq had plummeted a stunning 30% from its record high, set in February. Today, it’s just 6% away from that all-time high of 9,817.
Read More: Is the bear market over? Wall Street isn’t so sure
