But is it really a sign of improvement, or an adjustment to new realities?. Investment sentiment among American millionaire improved dramatically in May, giving Spectrem Group's Millionaire Investor Index (SMII) its biggest single-month surge and pushing the gauge, which tracks investment sentiment among financial decision-makers in households with at least $1 million in investable assets, into "neutral" territory for the first time in over a year. The gauge rose 17 points last month to -2 -- its highest level since it stood at 8 in December 2007.

Meanwhile, Spectrem's broader Affluent Investor Index (SAII) -- which tracks market sentiment among financial decision-makers in U.S. households with at least $500,000 in investable assets -- rose 9 points in May to -12. This mildly bearish reading was its highest score since February 2008, when it stood at -10.

Adjusting

"Millionaires' investment optimism surged in May, recording the largest monthly increase since we began tracking it in February 2004," says Spectrem's president George Walper. "Though news on the economy remains far from rosy, it appears that the nation's wealthiest investors are adjusting to the new environment and may feel the worst is behind us."

When asked to name the news story most affecting their economic outlook in May, affluent investors cited the economy (25%), the political environment (25%), stock-market conditions (6%), housing and real estate (3%), and rising oil and gas prices (1%). In February 2009, the last time survey respondents were asked this question, the broad economy was the main concern for 60% and politics was a factor for just 4% of them.

Millionaires were a little more worried about the political situation (27%) and a little less worried about the economy itself (24%).

Chicago-based Spectrem, a consultancy that specializes in the high-net-worth and retirement markets, bases its affluent and millionaire indexes on 250, 10-minute telephone interviews conducted each month, with about 100 of the interviews focused on millionaire households.

The SMII is based on interviews with a sub-set of its broader "affluent" universe -- in other words, the SAII includes the views of millionaire households, but they're mixed with insights from a larger sampling of lower-wealth-tier householders. -FWR

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