LONDON, July 16 Reuters Expectations U.S. interest rates will fall, preventing a hard landing for the economy, has kept investors bullish, although geopolitics pose the biggest risk to that scenario, the Bank of America39;s global fund manager survey showed on Tuesday.

The survey polled 242 managers with 632 billion in assets under management in the week of July 511. It did not capture the assassination attempt on U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump at a political rally at the weekend.

Global growth expectations dropped by the most monthonmonth since March 2022, with this metric falling to 27 from 6, the survey showed, as the number expecting a weaker U.S. economy increased sharply.

The bank said this reflected the view that interest rates are about to ease, as investors view monetary policy as at its most restrictive since the 2008 financial crisis.

Monetary policy is too restrictive according to 39 of investors, the most restrictive since November 2008, but this in turn deepens the belief that global interest rates are set to fall over the next 12 months, the BofA survey39;s authors, led by investment strategist Michael Hartnett, said.

Of those polled, 68 predicted a soft landing where growth and inflation gradually ease as the most likely outcome for the global economy, the bank said.

We believe 39;hard landing39; risks are underpriced, given the slowdown of U.S. consumer, labour market, government spending. This makes us most bullish on bonds and gold…