"International Problems" Has Biggest Impact on Portfolios

For the first time since last February, when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, International Problems weighed most on investors’ minds as the news story they feel most impacts their economic outlook.  At the time the survey was taken, Greek Prime Minister Georges Papandreou's call for a referendum on the EU governments' bailout plan caused stock markets around the world to plunge. He subsequently resigned. Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, too, resigned following political turmoil in his country.

With investors’ attention focused on International Problems and the implications on the stock market, the Political Environment, which in August was cited by 28 percent as the most impactful news story, dropped to 18 percent. But this survey was taken before the partisan finger pointing that followed the so-called Super Committee's failure to reach an agreement on finding $`1.2 trillion in cuts before its Nov. 23 deadline.

Other issues that have dominated headlines were of near equal interest to investors as the news story most affecting their portfolios. Seven percent said they were focused on Unemployment, which remained at 9 percent. Six percent cited Stock Market Conditions, while 5 percent said the Economy in general was the news story to watch. Four percent consider the Deficit to be the most crucial news story.

Of these, Millionaire investors had a more heightened interest than affluent investors as a whole in Unemployment (9 percent vs. 7 percent) and the Deficit (7 percent to 4 percent. Affluent investors are watching Stock Market Conditions more closely than Millionaires (6 percent vs. 2 percent).

International Problems and the Political Environment encompass all of these issues, which no doubt accounts for the higher percentages of investors focused on them. For example, at a press conference in early November, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated comments he made in August chiding the bitterly partisan political climate in part for economy's "frustratingly slow" growth.  " It would be more helpful if we had help from other parts of the government to create jobs,” he said.