American Investors and Hendrickson

Hendrickson: With U.S. stocks at records and many commentators saying they're overpriced , American investors are diversifying into cheaper international stocks. Investors have pulled a net $6.3 billion from U.S. stock funds this year, according to Investment Company Institute ICI data, while putting $60.5 billion in foreign stock funds, according to Bloomberg. Rather than crediting the mass of investors with new investment wisdom, Hendrickson sees other forces at work. The shift toward foreign stocks, she says, owes more to long-term trends as Americans age and retirement plans get more sophisticated and Many Americans are making smart moves with their investment portfolios. They just might not know it. This lack of enthusiasm for high-flying hometown stocks is exactly the opposite of what you'd expect of U.S. investors. Individual investors have a well-deserved reputation for following the herd, and the S P 500 has offered twice the return of non-U.S. stocks since early 2013. Given investors past behavior, its hard to believe they ve all become savvy value investors overnight, with a sudden appreciation of buying low and selling high, says Leuthold Weeden Capital Management analyst Kristen Hendrickson. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.