Advisor Confidence Slips Further, Echoing Consumer Uncertainty

RydexSGI AdvisorBenchmarking announced the results on Tuesday of its latest Advisor Confidence Index, which showed that advisor confidence slipped again in its March measure, falling 3.12% following a 2.40% decline in the February ACI, most likely on concern over events in Japan, North Africa and the Middle East. Prior to the February reading, strong gains in December and January had pushed the ACI to a near four-year high, Rydex|SGI said in a release.

The Index asks surveyed advisors to gauge their confidence on four measures—the current, six-month and 12-month economic outlook, and the stock market outlook.

One surveyed advisor quoted in the release, Kenny Landgraf of Kenjol Capital Management in Austin, Texas, said “Aggressive investors have gone back into their bunkers, especially with the big uncertainty surrounding Japan.”

While all four measures of the ACI headed down for the month, the stock market dropped the most, down 7.07%, while advisors’ outlook on the current economic outlook took the biggest swing during the month— from a positive 2.06% in February to a minus 3.12% in March (see chart)