In its most recent reading on investor and retiree optimism, Gallup reported on Friday that its Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index rose to +46 in August, the highest index reading since the fall of 2007. The index peak was posted in January of 2000 at a reading of +178.
The inex surveys U.S. investors with a minimum of $10,000 invested in any combination of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, self-directed IRAs, and 401(k) retirement accounts. The latest results are based on 1,011 interview between August 15th and August 24th. The interviewees included 374 retirees and 631 non-retired investors.
Investors are more sanguine about their personal abilities to maintain or improve their income over the next year (+47 index score) than they are about the health of the U.S. economy (-1).
- Gallup noted several reasons to consider the gains as modest:
- Optimism remains far below the levels of the early 2000s and less than half its level of January 2007.
- Optimism has bounced around in recent years rather than moving steadily upward.
- Non-retiree optimism is higher (+50 index score) than retiree optimism (+35) likely due to an improving jobs picture.
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