Forty five percent of respondents in the survey expect moderate economic growth during the rest of 2019

A survey of alternative investment professionals conducted on June 19, 2019, at EisnerAmper’s 4th Annual Alternative Investment Summit in New York found that nearly half expected significant or moderate economic growth for the remainder of the year.

Only 24% projected an economic slowdown, given that the Fed decided to keep interest rates on hold.

Sectors

Survey participants were most bullish on technology (31%), cannabis (28%) and healthcare/life sciences (20%) as sectors that had the best growth prospects during 2019. However, within the hedge fund respondents, 37% voted for cannabis.

2019 challenges

Of hedge fund respondents, 40% thought trade disputes were the key 2019 challenge, followed by SEC regulations (27%) and technology headwinds (18%).

Unsurprisingly, on Chinese goods, 51% of hedge fund respondents expect higher tariffs. This was in sharp contrast to PE/VC respondents, only 28% of whom thought new tariffs were likely.

PE/VC: Positive deal landscape

More than half of PE/VC respondents thought there would be buoyant market conditions for the rest of 2019, with positive deal prospects ahead. In fact, most thought the conditions would continue into the new year, with 77% having plans for new hiring.