The Advisor Confidence Index tabulated by Rydex AdvisorBenchmarking dropped 1.76 percent in September compared with August, but advisors did express a more optimistic long-term outlook.

Based upon their comments on the latest ACI figures, financial advisors have a brighter outlook for the economy a year from now than they do at the moment, according to Rydex.  

"What the markets see is that the economy, particularly the corporate bottom line, is looking pretty good and moving in the right direction and, as in all recessions before, the markets recover quicker than the economy," said George Cheatham of American Financial Consultants Inc."The biggest anchor holding back the economy is the uncertainty created by government officials both here and in Europe."

Other advisors expressed concern over everything from earnings to inflation to a bond bubble.

"Current markets have priced in the reduction of fat tail risk, but slowing corporate earnings will be problematic to sustain valuations," said Steven Brill of Spielberger Dampf & Levine LLC. 

"QE3 will likely ultimately lead to too much money chasing too few goods," said Paul Bennett of c5 Wealth Management. "It appears that inflation is no longer a question of 'if', but 'when.'" 

Rob Siegmann of Financial Management Group said "global economic and political threats have hit investor sentiment hard, driving down equity-market valuations while causing investors to bid up bond valuations. We believe a popping of the bond-market bubble lies ahead for investors."         

Three of the four components of the ACI experienced a decrease over the prior month:

Current economic outlook, -2.37 percent.

Six-month economic outlook, -6.78 percent.

12-month economic outlook, +3.23 percent.

Stock market outlook, -0.35 percent.

Modeled after the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, the ACI captures the sentiments of 150 independent registered investment advisors (RIAs).

-Jim McConville