- Fifty-seven percent of Americans are worried that the stock market hasn't hit a bottom yet amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study released Thursday from Allianz Life.
- "Americans who have watched their investments and retirement savings plummet over the past few weeks might be wondering if they should take action to stem the bleeding," Kelly LaVigne, vice president of Advanced Markets at Allianz Life, said in a statement.
- In addition, 63% are worried that a recession will hit the US soon. Luckily, most are taking a calm approach - 52% say it's a good time to stay neutral in the market and refrain from taking action until things calm down.
- Read more on Business Insider.
The majority of Americans say they think there could be more pain ahead in the stock market as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.
As many as 57% are worried that the market hasn't bottomed out yet, according to an Allianz Quarterly Market Perceptions study released Thursday. The survey had a sample of 1,003 respondents and was conducted between March 19-22.
"Americans who have watched their investments and retirement savings plummet over the past few weeks might be wondering if they should take action to stem the bleeding," Kelly LaVigne, vice president of Advanced Markets at Allianz Life, said in a statement. "The good news is that, for the majority, calmer heads prevail, and many seem to understand that they need to take a longer-term view and try to ride it out."
Global markets have been roiled by investor fear that the coronavirus will slow global growth, ending the longest-ever bull run and sparking waves of heightened volatility in recent weeks. At the close of trading on Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down roughly 27% from its all-time high in February.
As the pandemic continues on, markets have reacted to competing news - while the US economy is starting to show signs of damage, investors are optimistically awaiting the passage of a $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package from the White House.
The potential hit to the US economy has weighed heavily on investor sentiment in the last quarter - now, 63% of Americans fear a major recession is coming, up from 43% at the end of 2019, according to the report.
Luckily, that seems to have led to cool heads even as investors watch wild market swings. According to the study, 52% say it's a good time to stay neutral in the market and refrain from taking action until things calm down, up from 36% in the previous quarter.
In addition, 70% think that even though the market has lost a lot of ground in the last month, there will be time for retirement accounts to recover.
"Many investors have been through big drops before, and for the most part understand that what goes down almost always goes back up," LaVigne said, adding that hopefully people took steps to lessen risk before the market plummeted.
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