Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
August 30, 2011 at 09:31 AM
The Advisor Confidence Index slipped 5.75% from July to 98.33 in August, its lowest level since August 2010, Rydex/SGI AdvisorBenchmarking said Tuesday. The benchmark, which gauges advisor views on the U.S. economy and stock markets wiped out the ACI’s slight gains in July, when the index made its first positive move in six months.
August’s reversal in sentiment dropped the index to a level nearly 20% lower than January’s closing mark. (The ACI is based on surveys of 150 independent RIAs and is managed by Rydex/SGI AdvisorBenchmarking.)
The 150 independent RIAs participating in the survey were highly skeptical about the U.S. economy in the immediate term and the global economies over the longer term, according to Rydex/SGI. Fear of a recession pushed the “current economic outlook” component of the ACI down 12% from the previous month.
Meanwhile, confidence among U.S. consumers in August hit its lowest level in more than two years, based on Americans’ deeply negative outlooks for employment and income levels, the Conference Board said Tuesday.
The Conference Board index declined to 44.5, the weakest level since April 2009, from a revised 59.2 reading in July. This represents the largest point drop since October 2008.
