Global investors are looking past rate-hike bets and still betting on the AI boom

Bank of America's June Global Fund Manager Survey, polling investors managing over half a trillion dollars, showed continued bullishness on equities despite expected rate hikes, with the highest economic and profit growth forecasts in three months. The S&P 500 has risen about 15% and the Nasdaq 24% this quarter, while global indexes like Japan's Nikkei 225 are up more than 37% year-to-date, fuelled by AI optimism. A record 80% of respondents identified long positions in global semiconductor stocks as the market's most crowded trade, even as inflation remains the key tail risk, and oil prices have fallen nearly 30% from their early May peak to just above $80 a barrel.