Adviser confidence in the economy and stock market declined in June, according to Rydex AdvisorBenchmarking. The Rydex Advisor Confidence Index fell 3.07%, to 96.93, from a month earlier, due to heightened concerns about rising energy costs, higher inflation and the subprime mortgage crisis.
David Cramer of Cramer Financial Services said, "The leadership of the banking industry [has] zero credibility."
Advisers were upbeat about the current economy but were more pessimistic about the 12-month economic outlook and the 12-month stock market outlook than they were in May.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which has declined since last summer, posted a further decrease in May. The Consumer Confidence Index stood at 50.4, down 19.10%, compared with a 10.65% increase for the adviser index since April.
In addition, a key measurement of the sentiment of affluent investors fell to its second-lowest level in June. A second index, tracking millionaires, also fell, with millionaires concerned with the political climate.
The Spectrem Affluent Investor Index of households with $500,000 or more in investable assets, fell four points on June to -17, its second-lowest level since its launch in February 2004. Also falling in June was the Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index, down to -12 from -9 in May. Millionaires had expressed some hope in May, which triggered a rise in the index, but that has proved to be short lived. The millionaire index reached its all-time low in April with -14, and sentiment expressed in June runs nearer to that figure than May's.
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