Regional investors are optimistic about 2014, according to the investors poll released Wednesday by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
The poll found 86 percent of respondents in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey expect their investment portfolios to be “better” or “the same” at year end; 84 percent believe their financial well-being will be the same or better.
“Parallel with a rising stock market, tristate investors expressed optimism about their portfolios for 2014, yet concern for stock market volatility ”“ a concern greater than similar investors polled elsewhere in the nation,” said Bradley Barber, family wealth director and complex manager with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s Greenwich office. “As the survey was completed in December, those polled certainly seem prescient based upon the volatility we have witnessed in the past couple of weeks.” (He also is responsible for the company”™s offices in Stamford, Ridgefield, Westport, Fairfield and New Haven.)
Locally, investors are most bullish about their local metro area economies: 83 percent said “same” or “better” for 2014, followed by bullishness on their respective state economies (76 percent), global economy (74 percent) and the U.S. economy (71 percent).
The tech, energy and pharmaceutical sectors were viewed more favorably in the poll than were aerospace and insurance.
Investors in the tri-state region expressed greater concern for terrorism in the U.S. versus investors in other regions of the country: 82 percent locally versus 66 percent in San Francisco and 63 percent in Denver, for example.
(For more on the Morgan Stanley report, see the Feb. 3 edition of the Fairfield County Business Journal.)
