Advisors have started the New Year off with concerns about the economy, according to a recent survey.
The Advisor
Confidence Index (ACI)-a benchmark created by Rydex Investments to
measure advisors' views on the economy and stock market-declined 2.5%
in January.
Although advisors
expressed confidence in the stock market, and were confident that
interest rates would remain stable after the departure of Alan
Greenspan as the Federal Reserve chairman, they did worry about the
economy.
Among the four
components used to calculate the ACI, only the stock market
gained-rising 1.63% since December. The other components, all focused
on the economy, dropped in January. The current economic outlook was
down 4.50%, the six-month outlook down 4.59% and the 12-month outlook
down 1.91%.
Only 23% of
advisors, meanwhile, believe that interest rates are likely to increase
dramatically when Greenspan retires.