2 OUT OF 5 AMERICANS FEEL LESS FINANCIALLY SECURE
New York - When asked to compare their financial situation to last year, 42 percent of Americans feel less secure now, according to a new Harris Interactive poll of 2,331 adults online, which found that about one third (36 percent) feel just as secure, while one in five (19 percent) now feel more secure.
Looking ahead, a quarter of Americans (26 percent) said that they expect the economy to get worse in the coming year, while three in 10 (29 percent) expect it to get better and 45 percent said that it will stay the same. In the previous month, 34 percent had said that it would be getting better, 41 percent that it would stay the same, and 25 percent that it would get worse.
With regard to their finances in the coming year, half of Americans (49 percent) said that they will cut back on their household spending. Two in five said that they will pay down their level of debt (41 percent) and save more in the year ahead (40 percent). One in five U.S. adults said that they will get rid of one or more credit cards (22 percent) and save more for retirement (22 percent).
INVESTORS TRUST DUBIOUS SOURCES FOR STOCK NEWS
New York - Investors will turn to less credible sources of information about stocks they hold when more credible sources provide unwelcome information, according to a new study, "Determinants of Investors' Information Acquisition: Credibility and Confirmation," in a recent issue of the American Accounting Association's Accounting Review. "Investors receiving unfavorable information regarding a recent investment decision will seek additional information that substantiates their decision, even if it requires them to forfeit a certain amount of credibility in that information," the study said.
An investor in this situation, the study continued, "will not gather a balanced set of credible information, but will seek information that bolsters his/her chosen position," even though the outcome "is a set of information that can result in biased estimates and foregone profits."
