In the past year, insurance investors have reversed their stance on the market environment.
Although insurers were fearing an imminent recession in early 2016, CIOs and CFOs surveyed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management this year expressed a significantly more positive view. Of the 317 insurers surveyed — representing more than $10 trillion, or roughly 40 percent of the total insurance industry — the vast majority were optimistic about interest rates, equities, and credit. Four out of five said they believed U.S. Treasury yields would surpass 2.5 percent this year, while 88 percent predicted positive 2017 returns from the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index.
