Confidence among affluent investors rose slightly last month, according to Spectrem Group, but the data was collected before the stock market sell-off late last month.
The Chicago research firm announced last week that its Spectrem Affluent Investor Index rose 1 point in February, to 11, returning to mildly bullish territory.
Even with the February advance, the index, which measures the investment outlook of households with $500,000 or more of investable assets, has made little progress over the past 12 months. It now stands just one point above its March 2006 level.
The Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index rose 4 points in February, to a mildly bullish 19, exactly where it stood last March.
Polling for both the indexes was completed before the global stock sell-off that took place Feb. 27. George H. Walpers Jr., Spectrem's president, said the sell-off has triggered a great deal of market uncertainty, which is not reflected in the February numbers.
The March data will be critical in determining whether the sell-off has had a long-term impact on the outlook of the nation's wealthiest investors, Mr. Walpers said.
