Investment Updates News
- Investors optimism takes a tumble
Date: 27-Mar-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
Investor optimism fell for the second month in a row in March and now stands at 78, the UBS/Gallup Index of Investor Optimism survey showed on Monday.
Since January, when the Index reached its highest level in two years, the Index has fallen 25 points over the past two months, bringing it to its lowest level since September 2006 when it stood at 74.
The Index is conducted monthly and had a baseline score of 124 when it was established in October 1996.
'Investors are feeling the pinch of a volatile stock market, continued slowdown in the housing sector and higher energy prices. All of these issues directly affect investors' perceptions of their personal wealth and expectations for future performance of their portfolios. This is especially so given the recent focus on the fallout in the sub-prime mortgage market,' said Mike Ryan, Head of UBS Wealth Management Research Americas.
Investors are increasingly concerned about conditions in the residential real estate market. Seventy-two percent of investors say they believe that conditions in the residential real estate market nationwide are getting worse, not better in March, up from 63 percent in February.
This is the most pessimistic view of conditions in the residential real estate market nationwide since September 2006 when 74 percent of investors said conditions were worsening.
Similarly, 58 percent of investors say conditions in their local community's residential real estate market are getting worse in March, up from the 56 percent in February and 50 percent in January who responded this way.
Reacting to recent dips in global equities markets, investors have become concerned about performance of the stock market.
The percentage of investors who believe that now is a good time to invest in financial markets declined in March to 57 percent, down from 66 percent in February.
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