Deficit Fight Worries Investors--Gallup

What keeps investors up at night as the NASDAQ moves above 3,000 for the first time since December 2000 and other indices press toward new highs. Fights between the two political parties and the way that undermines clear government policy is the primary concern, according to Gallup.

A new poll shows that

American investors are most likely to say a politically divided federal government (73%) is hurting the U.S. investment climate “a lot,” according to a Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index survey. The federal budget deficit (66%) and the unemployment rate (62%) are also among the issues investors are most likely to say are hurting the U.S. investment climate. Investors are least likely to list the availability of credit as a problem from the eight items tested.

The results are unexpected because issues like unemployment are so immediately obvious and close at hand. But, investors can apparently think in the abstract and imagine a election year in which nothing is done about taxes and will eventually cause the market’s concern about these matters will undermine the confidence of the entire financial system.

Methodology: The Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index results are based on questions asked Feb. 3-12, 2012, on the Gallup Daily tracking survey of a random sample of 1,022 U.S. adults having investable assets of $10,000 or more.

Douglas A. McIntyre