- 83% of fund managers expect stagflation within a year, according to Bank of America.
- The bank's latest survey took place before Friday's 8.6% inflation figure further spooked markets.
- "Wall Street sentiment is dire," Bank of America analysts said in a research note.
Stagflation fears are rife across Wall Street and global markets, according to Bank of America.
The bank's latest fund manager survey found 83% of investors expect a combination of sluggish growth and soaring inflation to hit markets within the next 12 months.
Stagflation can be toxic for stock markets because of its association with high unemployment, lower consumer spending, rising costs, and reduced company profits. It's weighing on investors' minds right now as strategists sound the alarm about a potential recession even as inflation soars.
Bank of America surveyed 266 CIOs, asset allocators, and portfolio managers for its monthly survey – and over 220 used the term 'stagflation' to describe their economic expectations over the next 12 months.
"Wall Street sentiment is dire," BofA Securities investment strategists Michael Hartnett and Myung-Jee Jung said. "Inflation will remain high relative to history… so by far and away the most popular description of what the economic backdrop will be in the next 12 months is 'stagflation'."
Investors haven't felt this gloomy about stagflation since June 2008, according to Bank of America. At that time, the collapse of the investment bank Bear Stearns and rising oil prices were spooking markets ahead of the dawn of the Great Recession.
The bank's survey took place before the publication of Friday's CPI number rocked markets — meaning soaring prices are likely to become even more of a concern for the fund managers polled.
Inflation hit a 41-year high of 8.6% in May, which triggered a brutal sell-off that ended the S&P 500's brief bear market rally.
Hawkish central banks are also keeping investors up at night, according to Bank of America. 32% of the fund managers that the bank surveyed see rising interest rates as the biggest threat facing markets right now.
The Federal Reserve meets Wednesday to discuss hiking interest rates - with analysts from Barclays, Goldman Sachs, and Jefferies expecting rates to rise by 75 basis points for the first time since 1994.
"[There will be] no big low in stocks before big high in yields and inflation," Hartnett and Jung said. "The latter requires uber-hawkish Fed hikes in June and July."