U.S. Investor Optimism Index Is Lowest in 6 Years

The American investor index in this month recorded the lowest figure since its introduction in October 1996.

According to a survey conducted by UBS and the Gallup organization on 1,000 individual investors who are selected at random in America from Feb. 1 to Feb. 16, the optimism index dropped to 9, from last month’s 38. This figure is the lowest since October 1996, when this survey of investor outlook was introduced. It is also much lower than last October’s index of 29, the second lowest.

Only 35% of the respondents had optimistic outlook for the economy for the next 12 months, down 7% from last month. The biggest threat to the economy was cited as a war with Iraq by 37% of the respondents. 56% of them predicted that a war with Iraq would have a bad impact on the US economy, while 35% expected that it would be good for their economy.