Wealthy investors’ confidence is on the increase in the US, evidenced by the rise of a point last month in the Spectrem Millionaire Index, w...

Wealthy investors’ confidence is on the increase in the US, evidenced by the rise of a point last month in the Spectrem Millionaire Index, which is tracked by The Spectrem Group, a consulting firm based in Chicago. The index reached a level of 23, placing it at its highest level since March and April 2004. The Spectrem Affluent Investor Index, which measures the investment outlook of households with $500,000 or more in investible assets, also notched up its fourth straight gain last month, rising a point to 13, up from 6 in October. February's level placed the index at its highest point since December 2004, when it reached 17. Affluent investors and millionaires cited the factors that have the greatest effect on their economic outlooks as oil and gas prices, the Iraq War, Federal Reserve issues, the budget deficit and the economy. The Spectrem Affluent Investor Index is based on 250 telephone interviews each month and the Millionaire Index is based on a subset of the overall survey group that can vary each month, from more than 100 monthly interviews. The indexes range from -100 to 100, based on about 12 questions that measure confidence and market expectations.