Bank of America’s latest monthly fund manager survey shows sentiment is at “super bearish” levels. The percentage of investors taking lower-than-normal risk levels is at a record high, as is the number expecting global profits to worsen over the next year.

Investors are more underweight equities than at any time in the survey’s history. Already elevated cash levels have spiked to 6.1 per cent, the highest since after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The percentage of investors overweighting cash is at record highs.

Exposure to defensive stocks is the highest since February 2009. Euro zone stocks are a no-go area, with allocations hitting their lowest reading on record. Almost all respondents expect a European recession.

This is the kind of uber-bearish sentiment one often sees near major market bottoms. Still, while BofA’s Bull and Bear indicator is in the contrarian buy zone, the bank thinks any rally won’t be sustained, saying it remains “fundamentally and patiently bearish”.