Investors bullish on AI, Robotics, and bearish on cryptos, Ally Invest survey shows

Ally Invest, a subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc (NYSE:ALLY), has earlier today published key findings of a survey of approximately 260 independent investors. The results of the in-house survey, conducted by Ally Invest from December 19, 2018 to December 31, 2018, provides some insight into investor mood towards segments like technology.

The survey reveals an overall bearish sentiment which is rooted primarily in concerns pertaining to “the domestic political environment” (55% of respondents), the “potential of an impending recession” (53%), and “international unrest” (42%) and “higher interest rates” (42%).

The quarterly survey reported only 17% of investors have a bullish overall market outlook, down from 47% last quarter, while bearish sentiment rose to 47%, up from 14% last quarter. Neutral outlook (or lack of opinion about the market) was reported by 37% of survey respondents.

Positive investor sentiment for the FAANG stocks has deteriorated markedly since last quarter. For instance, respondents’ opinions of Facebook meeting or exceeding market expectations fell from 38% last quarter to 26% in Q1 2019.

Interestingly, when asked to pick which technology stocks could prove to be “hot” in 2019, survey respondents selected the following as their top five:

• Microsoft (MSFT) (40%)
• NVIDIA (NVDA) (26%)
• Square (SQ) (24%)
• Advanced Micro Services (AMD) (23%)
• Alibaba (BABA) (22%)

In addition to these tech stocks, survey respondents expressed positive outlooks on some emerging technologies and new industry sectors. Bullishness was highest in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) market (61%) followed by Cannabis (59%), Robotics (54%) and Software as a Service (SaaS) (43%). Only 12% of respondents were bullish on the Cryptocurrency market.

Investor sentiment regarding cryptocurrencies is in tune with the findings of Monex’s investor survey published in June 2018. The Monex survey has shown that retail investors are careful when it comes to cryptocurrencies. The survey showed that 59.2% of the clients of Monex Inc, the Japanese subsidiary of Monex Group, were not interested in virtual currencies. Among customers of TradeStation, 53.3% were not interested in cryptos, whereas 18.3% were interested but have not invested yet.

The recent actions by US authorities against cryptocurrency fraudsters, as well as the price swings of cryptocurrencies must have also played a role when investors decided on their outlook.

In respect of AI, it is worth noting that a number of US financial services providers, including companies offering online trading, have launched AI-based offerings and solutions to their clients. Interactive Brokers’ IBot is one example. Also, in October 2018, TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:AMTD) announced the launch of its Content Intelligence Platform (CIP) for financial education. The platform harnesses the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) to provide customized learning experiences for clients, organizing and categorizing TD Ameritrade’s educational content, and recommending content based on clients’ behavior.