Miguel A. Noriega
Americans believe technology and gold will be top-performing investments in 2011
As Americans move past the economic downturn and begin considering plans for investing in the coming year, many believe that technology stocks and gold will set the pace for 2011.
In a recent survey* from Edward Jones, more than one-third (36 percent) of Americans said that they believe technology stocks will perform best in 2011. Gold followed close behind with 31 percent of Americans betting on a positive performance in 2011.
“While Americans believe that technology stocks and gold will perform the best this year, it’s important that they keep a diversified and balanced portfolio despite their predictions,” said Miguel A Noriega, an Edward Jones financial advisor in Oxnard. “What seems likely to perform best at the beginning of the year may stumble. Unpredictable events highlight the need for broad diversification.”
Gender seemed to influence this sentiment as 40 percent of female respondents indicated they expect technology stocks to perform best, while more than one-third of male respondents (37 percent) indicated they believe gold will be the winner this year. Age was also a factor as almost half of Americans (47 percent) between the ages of 18-34 were considerably more optimistic about technology stocks than those in older age brackets. Geographically respondents in the West indicated they were more bullish on technology stock performance in 2011 than their counterparts in the rest of the country, with 42 percent indicating that they are optimistic about investing in technology this year.
“Our research of gold’s performance since 1970 indicates that gold tends to fall as quickly as it rises, and over longer-term periods, it fails to match the performance of stocks as represented by the S&P 500,” Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones said.
“Meanwhile, our research also shows that gold tends to be more volatile than the S&P 500,” Warne said, citing that since 1970 Edward Jones found that 35 percent of the 10 year periods measured resulted in a loss for an investment in gold, compared to a mere 6 percent for the S&P 500.
Optimism about gold’s performance was higher among respondents with lower incomes. Thirty seven percent (37 percent) of those polled in the lowest income bracket (respondents whose income was less than $35,000 per annum) indicated they believe gold will do best in 2011 and only 25 percent of those in the highest bracket (respondents whose income exceeded $100,000 per year) express the same sentiment.
Americans also noted that they were still uncertain about the performance of blue chip stocks as only 10 percent believe those stocks will perform the best this year. Similarly, real estate stocks scored low, as only 9 percent think it will outperform other asset classes. However, respondents in the Northeast showed more optimism than their peers around the country, with 14 percent indicating they expect real estate stocks to surpass other investments.
The study of 1,019 respondents, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation on behalf of Edward Jones, revealed that household income and size influenced Americans’ choice of stocks. Respondents with a household income of more than $100,000 believe that technology stocks will perform significantly better (39 percent) than gold (25 percent).
Edward Jones is at 300 E. Esplanade Drive, Suite 570, Oxnard. For more information, call Miguel A Noriega at 805.981.0518 or visit www.edwardjones.com
* Survey was based on 1,019 telephone interviews of U.S. adults conducted between Feb. 24-27. The survey was conducted with a 95 percent confidence level, Edward Jones reported.