The vast majority of family offices -- private companies that manage investments and trusts for a single wealthy family -- is happy with their private equity investments and want more. According to a new report from alternate investment research firm Preqin, 84% of family offices are satisfied with investments in private equity, and 69% are "willing to consider forming relationships with new firms, as of year-end 2009." The opportunity for new inflows, of course, comes with some baggage, as 27% of offices require tighter, more personal relationships with the fund managers with whom they invest.

For the first half of 2010, almost two thirds of money managers are bullish, according to Barron's. In fact, 54% are bullish, and 5% are "very bullish." Responses suggest that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to gain another 5% by the end of the year.

According to Barron's, "Today's bullish investors see the major stock indexes making steady progress through next June, amid signs the U.S. economy is on the mend after a searing recession."

Looking for a new emerging market? Try Pakistan! Despite a continued sense of tension with India and open hostility along the Afghan border, the country's bond market is the best in the world, according to data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). Debt sold by Pakistan has surged 88% this year -- topping the 45 emerging markets that JPMorgan watches and the 19 that Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: BAC) follows.

And, the stock market may be next.

Money managers, according to a report by Bloomberg, believe that the Pakistani equity market could become the next global superstar. The Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index is only trading at 9.6X earnings, making it the lowest in Asia (excluding Japan) . . . and this follows a 21% increase year-to-date.

Well, these investors sitting on cash are not alone. Bloomberg reports this morning that mutual funds have been desperately selling stocks and moving to pretty sizable cash hordes. In a survey conducted by Merrill Lynch and reported by Bloomberg, managers have been feverishly adding to their cash positions and consequently, "cash relative to total assets also rose to a five-year high as managers found fewer stocks to purchase and anticipated redemptions."

This brings up a couple of issues. Let's be clear: mutual fund managers want to manage volatility like all investors. The problem here is that if I hand my money over to a small cap manager because I believe he's pretty proficient in picking stocks, I don't really want him moving into cash. That's my job as portfolio manager of my own investment account. I'm essentially paying him to be in the market -- not move out of it.

According to Russell Investment Group's quarterly Investment Manager Outlook discussed in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required), 17% of money managers think U.S. stocks are overvalued, the highest number since the survey began three years ago. Some commentators believe that the number suggests that the 5-year long bull market is starting to wane.

I don't know about that. If you're a follower of the strategies outlined in David Dreman's Contrarian Investment Strategies, the appropriate reaction would be to buy. Think about it this way: What drives stock prices up? New money coming into the stock market. When money managers are bearish, that means that they've most likely cut back on their U.S. equities exposure. Many have probably even gone short on some of the indices. In other words, the record 17% of managers who are bearish can't do anything more to deflate the market. On the other hand, if they change their minds they will have to buy back in, which of course could only help to boost stocks.

Still, 17% bearish isn't that big of a number and given that only 353 managers were surveyed, it would probably be an overreaction to trade based on this news.

But here's an interesting item: "As troubles continued in the sub-prime mortgage market, real estate remained the least-favorite asset class, favored by just 12% of managers."

Is it time to take another look at REITs?