U.S. Debt Debate Tops Global Investing Concerns: Poll

Think of the United States as an evil genius bent on world destruction. The rest of the world does—sort of.

A new Bloomberg poll finds U.S. budget “discord” more of a threat for investors than either Europe’s fiscal crisis or a slowdown in China.

With the government within weeks of reaching its borrowing limit, the news service notes that 36% of respondents cite the nation’s fiscal woes as the biggest threat, compared with 29% who choose Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and 15% who name a slowing Chinese economy, according to the quarterly poll on Jan. 17 of investors, analysts and traders who subscribe to Bloomberg.

Almost half of investors–47%–say Washington’s recurring fiscal showdowns are discouraging them from investing in U.S. financial markets, according to the Bloomberg Global Poll. Included in that amount are 39% who say they would normally be investing more; 8% say they are actively selling.