One of 2024’s defining characteristics so far is a discernible similarity between the market environment and the speculative mania that prevailed in 2021, year of the so-called “everything bubble.”

The comparison isn’t perfect by any stretch. Some would suggest it isn’t a parallel at all. But even if you don’t see a bubble, you’d be remiss not to at least acknowledge the echoes, which are particularly loud in equities and crypto.

Bottom line: From a bird’s-eye view (see what I did there?) it’s fair to assess that risk appetite is as pervasive this year as it’s been since 2021.

For what it’s worth, the March vintage of BofA’s Global Fund Manager Survey underscored the point.

The share of respondents who indicated they’re taking a higher-than-normal level of risk versus their benchmark was the highest since early 2021 this month, as illustrated above.

In all, 226 panelists with $572 billion in AUM between them participated in the March survey. 198 of them responded to the Global FMS questions.

Growth expectations were the rosiest in two years. The net share expecting a stronger economy is nearly back into positive territory.

As BofA’s Michael Hartnett wrote Tuesday, stocks eagerly traded ahead of the inflection in macro sentiment.

“Recession risks [are] dissipating,” he said, describing the mindset among professional investors. Two out of three now deem a recession unlikely over the next 12 months.

“No landing” odds are the highest yet, at 23%. Soft landing’s still investors’ base case — 62% said a soft landing’s the most probable outcome. “Hard landing” was at 11% for the second month in a row.

Note that nearly one in three investors expected a hard landing in October, which is to say the month before the Fed began to pivot and Janet Yellen endeavored to tamp down long-end US yields, triggering a raucous cross-asset rally that ran almost uninterrupted through year-end.

Although the bond rally stalled in 2024, the equity rally persisted, pulling reluctant holdouts off the sidelines.

As the figure above shows, respondents to BofA’s fund manager poll were the most overweight stocks versus cash since April of 2021 this month.

“Macro bullishness drove investors’ equity allocation to net 28% overweight, the highest since February 2022, while [their] allocation to cash fell slightly to net 5% overweight,” Hartnett wrote, while editorializing around the relative overweight shown above.

“Long Magnificent 7” retained its spot at the top of the most crowded trade list. Investors are split on whether AI stocks are a bubble, with 40% saying “yes” and 45% saying “no.”