RICHMOND, Va., March 28, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- WILink, a global leader in providing investor relations and investment information services, today released market research showing a positive turn in investors' feelings about the market's performance in 2003.
Investors were more bullish about the market this week at a rate of 1.58 bullish investors to every one investor with a bearish outlook, a 62% increase from last week's measure. Although large portions of investors remain neutral about the market, this is the most positive increase in the number of investors with a bullish outlook since the beginning of 2003. During February, there was almost a one-to-one ratio for bullish to bearish investor sentiment. January 2003 began with WILink's Investor Confidence Index at a much lower level than seen in January 2002, and investor confidence was over four times as high the same week in 2002 as it is now.
The swings in investor confidence in 2003 have not been as dramatic as in early 2002. In February 2002 and April 2002 investor confidence shifted from a low of 2.03 to a high of 7.22. Within three weeks, that number had declined substantially to 3. The downward trend continued throughout the year, hitting an all-time low of 0.80 bullish investors to each bearish investor in September of 2002. So far in 2003, investor confidence has moved within a range from a high of 2.36 in mid-January to a low of .93 in early February and back to 1.58 this week with many investors remaining neutral about prospects for the market's performance.
WILink conducts the Investor Confidence research with their Annual Reports Service and Fund Info Service customers. These services provide serious, self-directed investors with essential investment information from publicly traded companies and mutual funds through WILink's partnerships with leading global financial publications and web sites. Investors who request the financial information are asked to describe their 12-month outlook for the stock market as Bullish, Bearish or Neutral. WILink has been tracking the WILink Investor Confidence Index since January of 2000.
Recent research on the users of the Annual Reports Service showed them to be seasoned investors with over 15 years of experience investing in stocks. Fifty-two percent of those investors have investment portfolios larger than $300,000 and twenty-one percent have portfolios greater than $1,000,000. After researching a company through the Annual Reports Service, nearly three quarters reported investing, with over half investing $15,000 or more. This research was independently complied in 2003 by Finer Weston Associates, London, UK.
"The Index shows that investors are beginning to feel more positive about market conditions," said J. Patrick Galleher, Chief Operating Officer of WILink, Inc. "Starting at the second quarter of 2002, the level of caution in the market was very consistent. The positive turn this week shows optimism for the second quarter of 2003."
About WILink
Since 1992, WILink plc (www.wilink.com) has been a leading provider of global investor relations and investment information services that attract and retain investors for public companies and mutual funds. WILink's PrecisionIR(tm) (www.precisionir.com) and PrecisionFM(tm) custom investor-marketing programs enable publicly traded companies and mutual funds to deliver tailored and compelling communications to a precisely targeted audience of investors. This year WILink will make more than 8 million investor introductions for over 3,750 corporate clients through PrecisionIR(tm) and PrecisionFM(tm) programs, which include the Annual Reports Service, the Fund Info Service, Informed Investors Forums (www.informedinvestors.com), Vcall(r) webcasting (www.vcall.com), InstitutionalReach(tm) and PeerEvents. WILink's partnerships with over 240 leading financial channels in 14 countries including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Barron's and Yahoo! Finance ensure clients targeted visibility within the investment community. WILink, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of WILink plc (LSE:WLK) began operations in Richmond, Va. in 1993.