Ukraine crisis: Fund managers now see equity bear market in 2008-like gloom

Most investors now expect global equities to slump into a bear market this year as the growth outlook has tumbled to the lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis amid fears over the impact from the war in Ukraine. 

This is the takeaway of the latest Bank of America Corporation monthly global fund manager survey conducted in the week through March 10. While cash levels surged to the highest since April 2020, the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, allocation to commodities jum­ped to a record and exposure to equities fell to the lowest in nearly two years. 

“Economic growth