The number of advisors who are bullish on Canadian and US equities, and a number of other industry benchmarks, has declined significantly, says Horizons ETFs’ Q2 Advisor Sentiment Survey, released April 18.

The survey asked Canadian investment advisors for their expectations of returns – bullish, bearish or neutral – on 15 asset classes for Q2 2018, which will end on June 30, 2018.

In the Q2 survey, 48 per cent of advisors said they were bullish on the S&P/TSX 60 Index, compared to 65 per cent in the Q1 survey. Horizons ETFs says the decline in bullish sentiment is likely due to a volatile first quarter.

As for the S&P 500 Index, advisors’ bullish sentiment dropped from 65 per cent last quarter to 56 per cent for Q2. Bullish sentiment for the NASDAQ 100 Index dropped from 65 per cent in Q1 to 57 per cent for Q2.

High levels of volatility

"The high levels of volatility that we recently saw in the Canadian and U.S. equity markets has likely reduced the enthusiasm that advisors have for North American stock markets," said Steve Hawkins, president and co-CEO of Horizons ETFs.