Kuwait sovereign wealth fund head says investors reduce US exposure at their 'own risk'
DOHA, May 21 (Reuters) - The head of the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), which manages almost $1 trillion in assets, said the sovereign wealth fund is committed to investing in the U.S. and that investors cut allocations to U.S. assets at their own risk.
Some global investors have ditched U.S. assets in recent weeks on fears that U.S. President Donald Trump's overhaul of global trade may hurt the U.S. economy, and could cause deeper long-term damage.
The trend looks set to continue given a record number of managers said they planed to keep cutting their exposure to U.S. assets, according to BofA research.
Oil-rich Kuwait has been investing in the U.S. market for a "long time" and that "won't change", KIA Managing Director Sheikh Saoud Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah said at an investment conference in the Qatari capital on Wednesday.
"I would say it very bluntly, underweight America at your own risk," he said.
Last week, Moody's downgraded the U.S. sovereign credit rating by one notch citing concerns about the nation's growing $36 trillion debt pile, which could make investors more cautious and drive up borrowing costs across the economy.
"They (investors) are merely looking at equity markets, but they're not taking into fact the U.S. has the largest fixed income market, the U.S. has the largest private equity market, the real estate market, infrastructure and credit," Al-Sabah said.
"I think the U.S. has the breadth and depth to sustain its exceptionalism and it has the rule of law as well," he said.
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