Investor confidence index falls

State Street Global Markets said today that its global investor confidence index fell 75.8 to 65.9 in December and that its reading for North American investors hit an all-time low.

State Street Global Markets is the investment research and trading arm of Boston-based State Street Corp., which provides a range of services to institutional investors.

Still reacting largely to the fallout from the summer credit crisis, the Global Investor Confidence fell by 9.9 points to a level of 65.9, from last month's revised reading of 75.8, State Street Global Markets said.

North American investors were once again the key drivers of this decline as their confidence fell over 10 points from 75.4 to reach an all-time low of 65.3, the firm said.

Elsewhere, European investor appetite improved from 83.9 to 85.0, while the confidence of Asian investors fell from 86.6 to 85.8, State Street Global Markets said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)