Investor optimism has taken a nosedive in a recent poll by Wells Fargo/Gallup. But the long-term outlook remains upbeat.

The Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index, which started with a baseline score of 100 in 1996, recently plunged from 138 to 4. That’s the largest-short-term drop since its inception.   

Wells Fargo said investor optimism was down on all economic components of the index, falling the most on the subjects of unemployment (34 points), followed by economic growth (26 points). Investors also soured on their outlook for reaching their 12-month investment targets. However, two-thirds of those polled remain optimistic about reaching their five-year investment goals.

The Investor and Retirement Optimism Index peaked at 152 in January 2000, at the height of the dot-com boom, and hit a low of negative 81 in February 2009.

The Gallup Panel online study, which was conducted in May and included 1,076 U.S. investors, aged 18 and older, also revealed that investors have not been swayed by the market downturn, as six in 10 continue to believe now is a good time to invest in the financial markets.

Just as they were last year, nearly seven in 10 investors are very confident (21%) or somewhat (48%) confident about investing in the stock market as a way to build wealth for retirement. Only 8% of investors saw the current stock market environment as a time to decrease their stock holdings to protect against further losses. Half said it’s a time to hold what they have and wait for the market to come back. And 35% saw it as a buying opportunity.

Tracie McMillion, head of global asset allocation strategy for Wells Fargo Investment Institute, noted that investors are displaying remarkable resilience at an unprecedented time. “Numerous trends in the poll confirm that investors view recent market disruption as episodic and temporary, not as a sign of systemic problems that will harm their investments in the long term or compel them to reallocate their assets,” she said in a statement.

The Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly affected investors’ finances, the poll found. About a third of all investors overall (32%) reported that the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus has had a negative impact on their day-to-day financial security. The poll found that 27% of nonretired investors had suffered a loss of income or pay, 15% had been furloughed or temporarily laid off, and 1% had been permanently let go.

One in four investors also reported that, as a result of the coronavirus, they had to take on more financial responsibility for family members. Sixteen percent reported providing greater financial assistance to an adult child, while 7% said they have assisted a parent, and another 7% said they had helped another relative.

Most investors (64%) said they spent less money because of the economic shutdown, and one-third said they were able to increase their savings. On the other hand, 21% said their savings decreased, while 46% said their savings ability was not affected.

One of the big lessons of the pandemic, investors said, is the need to have an emergency fund. A majority of those polled (64%) said their investment strategy will now include setting aside more money in such a stash, and close to one-half indicated they are very likely or somewhat likely to spend more time creating a long-term financial plan.

The pandemic has also caused many working investors to rethink their retirement plans. Nearly a third (30%) said it is very or somewhat likely they will delay the age at which they retire. Similarly, 29% said they will likely work more than they intended in their retirement.

Forty percent of those closer to retirement age (50 to 64), compared with 22% of investors age 18 to 49, indicated they are very or somewhat likely to work more than they intended to in retirement. Older, nonretired investors also are more likely than those under 50 to say they will have to retire later than originally planned.

The study suggests investors may have become more thick-skinned to market turmoil since the 2008-2009 downturn. It noted that three in four investors said they were invested in the stock market in 2008, but less than half of those investors (42%) indicated being more concerned about today’s market downturn than they were about the one in 2008.

Additionally, four in 10 investors, including 46% of those who were invested in the market in 2008, said they have gotten better about shrugging off market volatility. Another 31% said they were not bothered by market volatility before, and only one in four said they are bothered as much today as they were during the 2008-2009 downturn.