Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Pulse Survey Reveals Investor Views Hold Steady Amid New Year and Administration Change

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Morgan Stanley Wealth Management today announced results from its quarterly retail investor pulse survey:

• Majority of investor views remained bullish. Investors kicked off the year bullish (58%), in line with last quarter (59%). Additionally, nearly 2 out of 3 investors (64%) believe the market will rise by the end of the quarter.
• Inflation concerns remain top, while political concerns drop. Inflation continues to be the top worry for investors’ portfolios at 45%, in line with last quarter at 46%, while market volatility at 24% ticked up to second (in line with Q4 at 23%). Concern over the new administration dropped 13 percentage points since last quarter.
• Majority still support rate cuts. Nearly 3 out of 5 (59%) of investors believe the U.S. economy is healthy enough for the Fed to cut rates this quarter, although that majority dropped 9 percentage points.

“As with any new administration coming in, potential policy changes can cause uncertainty in the markets,” said Chris Larkin, Managing Director, Head of Trading and Investing, E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley. “That said, investors remain optimistic and resilient amid a soft start to 2025.”

The survey explored investor views on sector opportunities for the first quarter of 2025:

• IT – Amid growth prospects for 2025, IT remained the top choice (52%).
• Energy – Interest in this sector rose by three points (46%) amid a rise in oil and gas prices.
• Health care – Bullish investors may have pared back on this traditionally defensive sector as it dropped down 4 percentage points to 32%.

About the Survey
This wave of the survey was conducted from January 6 to January 16 of 2025 among an online US sample of 909 self-directed investors, investors who fully delegate investment account management to financial professionals, and investors who utilize both. The survey has a margin of error of ±3.20 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. It was fielded and administered by Dynata. The panel is broken into three investable assets: less than $500k, between $500k to $1 million, and over $1 million. The panel is 60% male and 40% female and self-select as having moderate+ investing experience, with an even distribution across geographic regions, and age bands.

About Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, a global leader, provides access to a wide range of products and services to individuals, businesses and institutions, including brokerage and investment advisory services, financial and wealth planning, cash management and lending products and services, annuities and insurance, retirement and trust services.

About Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. With offices in 42 countries, the Firm’s employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

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Referenced Data
When it comes to the current market are you?
	Q4’ 24	Q1’ 25
Bullish	59%	58%
Bearish	41%	42%
Where do you predict the market will end this quarter?
	Q4’24	Q1’25
Rise Total	64%	64%
Rise 20%	2%	4%
Rise 15%	8%	7%
Rise 10%	19%	18%
Rise 5%	35%	35%
0/Stay where it is	16%	15%
Drop - 5%	14%	11%
Drop - 10%	5%	6%
Drop – 15%	1%	2%
Drop – 20%	1%	1%
Which of the following are you most concerned about when it comes to your portfolio? (Top 2)
	Q4’24	Q1’25
Inflation	46%	45%
Market volatility	23%	24%
New administration	N/A	21%
Earnings	14%	19%
A recession	18%	17%
Geopolitical conflict	16%	17%
Energy costs	14%	15%
Fed monetary policy	14%	12%
Jobs market	4%	6%
Narrow market driven by mega-caps	2%	5%
None	2%	3%
2024 election	34%	N/A
Please rate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements. The U.S. economy is healthy enough for the Fed to cut rates [again] this quarter.
	Q4’ 24	Q1’ 25
Agree (Top 2)	68%	59%
Strongly agree	26%	20%
Somewhat agree	42%	39%
Neither agree nor disagree	17%	25%
Somewhat disagree	11%	13%
Strongly disagree	4%	4%
What industries do you think offer the most potential this quarter? (Top three)
	Q4’24	Q1’25
Information technology	54%	52%
Energy	43%	46%
Health care	36%	32%
Financials	28%	31%
Real estate	27%	30%
Industrials	22%	25%
Utilities	29%	22%
Communication services	19%	20%
Consumer staples	18%	17%
Materials	15%	16%
Consumer discretionary	10%	11%