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U.S.
investors with assets in seven or more figures are not feeling nearly as
chipper about the domestic state of affairs as they were over the last year
or so, that is, when stock prices were generally rising. Reuters reports on
how their mood has soured.
  The
Spectrem millionaire investor confidence index fell to its lowest level in
more than a year in August as wealthy U.S. investors worried about politics
and unemployment, according to Spectrem Group.
The
Spectrem Millionaire Investor Confidence Index fell 11 points in August to
-18, its lowest level since June 2009, when it fell a
record 18 points to -20 shortly after the S&P 500 index hit a 12-year
low.
The
move returns the index to mildly bearish territory after 12 straight months
in neutral.
The
Chicago-based consulting firm, which specializes in affluent and retirement
markets, defines neutral as between -10 and +10 in the index, which ranges
from -100 to +100.
“The millionaires’ decline is
particularly troubling since it suggests millionaires, typically more
sophisticated than the broader affluent population, are reverting to a
bearish frame of mind,” said George Walper, president
of Spectrem Group.
As you
might expect, it’s not the high unemployment rate and the increasingly
slim chance that the lives of their children will be better than their own
that is increasingly bothering the well heeled-crowd. It’s more the
double whammy of a stock market slide about to extend into its fifth month
and the prospect of paying higher taxes in the years ahead that have combined
to lower their expectations of the future.
Tim
Iacono
Iacono Research.com
Tim
Iacono is the founder of Iacono Research which provides market commentary and
investment advisory services specializing in macroeconomic analysis and
commodity based investing. He also writes the popular blog The Mess
That Greenspan Made.
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