Insights | Research from State Street Markets | Institutional Investor Indicators

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Anticipate market trends with data-driven measures of aggregate flow and positioning, high-frequency inflation, media sentiment, risk regimes, and more.

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Unlock new investment angles with award-winning research on themes including AI, private markets, investment strategies, geopolitics, and beyond.

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Gain deeper vision on market turning points, risks, and opportunities with daily views and analysis on equity, fixed income, and currency markets.

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Views and Analyses

Gain deeper vision on market turning points, risks, and opportunities with daily views and analysis on equity, fixed income, and currency markets.

Research Papers

Unlock new investment angles with award-winning research from collaborations with our roster of 10+ academic partners on themes including Al, private markets, investment strategies, geopolitics, and beyond.

Institutional Investor Indicators

The State Street Institutional Investor Indicators provide investors, policymakers, and the public with insights into the aggregated and anonymized positioning, risk appetite, and portfolio carbon exposures of thousands of institutional investors around the world, representing trillions of dollars in assets.

Partnerships

Academic Partners

Through our network of partnerships with renowned academics, we are constantly searching for the perfect blend of deep expertise and disruptive thinking that leads to valuable ideas.

Data Partners

Strategic partnerships extend our research vision with distinctive indicators of economic and market activity, providing a real-time pulse on emerging trends and uncovering patterns that others miss.

State Street
Institutional Investor Indicators

Investment insights based on facts, not surveys The State Street Institutional Investor Indicators provide investors, policymakers, and the public with insights into the aggregated and anonymized positioning, risk appetite, and portfolio carbon exposures of thousands of institutional investors around the world, representing trillions of dollars in assets.

Our Indicators:

Holdings

Risk Appetite

Carbon

State Street Institutional Investor Holdings Indicator

The Holdings Indicator tracks the aggregated portfolio holdings of institutional investors across stocks, bonds, and cash in percentage terms.

Key Facts

The Institutional Investor Holdings Indicator measures the broad asset allocations of institutional investors to cash, stocks, and bonds
During times of market stress, cash allocations tend to rise while stock allocations tend to fall
When short-term interest rates are relatively high, cash holdings tend to rise relative to bonds
Released monthly

Our latest report

Holdings

Investors are heavily overweight equities
Bonds are significantly underweight; cash is slightly underweight.
Equity overweight is at its most pronounced since mid-2007.

RiskAppetite

Sentiment is strongly positive, highest since early 2021.
Investors continue to embrace risk despite global uncertainties.
Pro-risk stance is supported by Fed rate cuts, but caution is advised if macro risks emerge.

Holdings

Fixed Income ex Bills
Equities
Cash

State Street Institutional Investor Risk Appetite Indicator

The Risk Appetite Indicator quantifies the degree to which the trading patterns of institutional investors are risk seeking or averse, on a scale of -100% (most risk averse) to 100% (most risk seeking).

Key Facts

The Institutional Investor Risk Appetite Indicator measures the buying and selling of risky assets across 22 dimensions of risk
These range across asset classes: equities, fixed-income, cash, and foreign exchange
Key dimensions include stock versus cash allocations, cyclical versus defensive equities, high-yield versus investment-grade corporate bonds, and US Dollar currency flows
Released monthly

Our latest report

Holdings

Investors are heavily overweight equities
Bonds are significantly underweight; cash is slightly underweight.
Equity overweight is at its most pronounced since mid-2007.

RiskAppetite

Sentiment is strongly positive, highest since early 2021.
Investors continue to embrace risk despite global uncertainties.
Pro-risk stance is supported by Fed rate cuts, but caution is advised if macro risks emerge.

Risk Appetite

State Street Institutional Carbon Indicator

The Carbon Indicator measures the level of carbon exposure in institutional portfolios and reveals what is driving the shifts in overall carbon exposure as well as the carbon efficiency with which portfolio companies generate revenue.

Key Facts

Measures the amount of carbon exposure in institutional portfolios, in terms of aggregate portfolio emissions (tonnes of CO2 emitted) and aggregate portfolio carbon intensity (carbon efficiency, or emissions divided by million USD revenue)
Can be broken down into regions as well as drivers (i.e., whether carbon reduction is due to company-level decisions around emissions or investor decisions to buy or sell carbon-exposed companies)
Developed in partnership with S&P Global, a market leader in carbon data, and powered by S&P Global Sustainable1
Released annually

Our latest report

Between March 2024 and March 2025, carbon risk moved in different directions according to our separate metrics of carbon risk exposure:

The carbon emissions exposure of the aggregate institutional portfolio increased slightly, but remains below 2019 levels.
The carbon intensity exposure of the aggregate institutional portfolio continued to fall, as companies’ revenues grew faster than their carbon emissions.

Carbon

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1.Peter L. Bernstein Award for Best Article in an Institutional Investor Journal in 2013; Doriot Award for Best Private Equity Research Paper in 2022; Bernstein-Fabozzi/Jacobs-Levy Award for Outstanding Article in the Journal of Portfolio Management in 2006, 2009, 2011, 2013 (2), 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021; Roger F. Murray First Prize for Research Presented at the Q Group Conference in 2012 and 2021; Graham & Dodd Scroll Award for article in the Financial Analysts Journal in 2002 and 2010.