Investors raise cash on hawkish central banks worries

(Reuters) – Investors raised cash allocations to 5.1% on growing concerns over central bank hawkishness, BofA Securities’ monthly fund manager survey showed before key policy decisions this week by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other big central banks.

The U.S. investment bank said “hawkish central banks” was the biggest tail risk and that has sparked a surge in cash from the 4.7% in November and a more defensive asset allocation.

According to the survey published on Tuesday, cryptocurrencies, unprofitable tech, banks, emerging markets would rally if the outcome of the Fed meeting is dovish.

It also said that long tech stocks (39%), long bitcoin (18%) and long ESG (17%) were the most crowded trades.

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni in Milan; Editing by Saikat Chatterjee)