Barclays Capital Investor Survey Finds Growing Confidence in Euro Area for 2011

Institutional investors overwhelmingly believe the euro area will be able to avoid a “full-fledged crisis,” according to Barclays Capital’s inaugural Global Macro Survey. More than 2,000 institutional investors from around the world, including hedge funds, money managers, proprietary trading and corporate trading desks responded to the survey, yielding valuable information on global investor sentiment.

Only 4% of clients surveyed believe that a euro-area crisis and break-up of the euro currency is a likely outcome, and more than 50% of respondents said that the impact of the sovereign debt crisis on the euro over the next quarter will be modest. Despite this, concerns about advanced economy fiscal issues will be the key theme in 2011, according to more than three out of five respondents.

“The results of this survey point to a confidence that fiscal issues in the euro area can be resolved,“ said Piero Ghezzi, Head of Economics, Emerging Markets and FX Research at Barclays Capital. “Nevertheless, institutional investors are very concerned about how government debt and fiscal policy is handled in advanced economies around the world.”

Additional findings of the survey include:

• The asset classes of choice in 2011 are equities (40%) and commodities (34%). Fewer than 10% expect US Treasuries to outperform.
• The U.S. is set to experience a period of below-trend growth, according to 86% of respondents. Less than 6% of investors expect a double-dip recession in the U.S.
• The overriding theme in EM appears to be growth – 40% of investors in EM believe that the currencies and equity markets likely to outperform are those with strong growth stories regardless of carry and valuation.

About the Global Macro Survey

The Barclays Capital Global Macro Survey was launched on 29 November and captured the views of 2,007 participants who responded to a questionnaire on Barclays Capital Live.

Among the respondents, 30% were EM and FX investors; the remaining 70% were almost equally divided between equities, rates and credit. All respondents were asked to answer seven global macro questions. After that, investors were asked to answer the questions relevant to their asset class of interest.

About Barclays Capital

Barclays Capital is the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC. With a distinctive business model, Barclays Capital provides large corporate, government and institutional clients with a full spectrum of solutions to their strategic advisory, financing and risk management needs. Barclays Capital has offices around the world, employs 25,000 people and has the global reach, advisory services and distribution power to meet the needs of issuers and investors worldwide.

For further information about Barclays Capital, please visit our website: www.barclayscapital.com.