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July 26, 2011 at 10:29 AM
Advisors and consumers alike report feeling more positive about the economy in July. The Advisor Benchmarking’s Advisor Confidence Index increased over 2%, while The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rose two points from the June index.
The Advisor Confidence Index rose 2.29%, following an 8% drop in June. Advisor Benchmarking, an affiliate of Rydex|SGI, reported Monday that this is the first gain in the Advisor Confidence Index in six months.
Advisors’ current economic outlook rose 4.17% after falling nearly 15% in June. Looking ahead six months, advisor optimism increased over 5%, while their 12-month outlook increased by a smaller margin of 1.28%. The only outlook that fell in July—which the company noted is the only outlook that increased in June—was advisors’ outlook on the stock market, which fell 1.2%.
The company is cautiously optimistic on the change, though, noting that the increase doesn’t signify a “return to bullishness,” but is a testament to how bearish advisors were in the first half of the year. In fact, comments from advisors who participated in the survey indicated the improvement will be short-lived.
“While the U.S. economic outlook for the short term appears positive, it’s clear that the large budget deficit problem for the medium to longer term needs to be addressed,” Rob Siegmann, chief operating officer and senior advisor for Cincinnati-based Financial Management Group, was quoted in a statement. “In the meantime, there will be plenty of political arguing about how to reduce the budget deficit, and this uncertainty will cause investment decision making to be more challenging in 2012.”
