CNBC Poll: Investing And The Stock Market
In the wake of the Flash Crash, CNBC and AP conducted a wide-ranging poll on how Americans saw the stock market and investing. The results were provocative to say the least.
Though the crash coincided with the beginning of a two-month, 17-percent decline in theS&P 500, the stock market rebounded to resume its post-crisis ascent, recently hitting a new high of 1365.
Trading volume, however, suggests all may not be well. Now at about 4 billion shares a day on the New York Stock Exchange, it is dramatically lower than it was one year ago. In the April-May period of 2010, volume frequently hit 6 billion shares a day, with occasional 7-billion-share days.
After the market meltdown of late 2008 and early 2009 and then again after the Flash Crash, there has been great speculation that the average retail investor has lost his appetite for stocks.
Long-term mutual fund balances — one of several barometers — suggested as much, with U.S. equity funds, in particular, showing regular and massive outflows. More recently, after two months of inflows, the flight is back.
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission's recently released proposal to limit market volatilityhas drawn mixed reveiws.
Given recent developments and the one-year anniversay of the Flash Crash, we thought it would be interesting to share some of the same poll questions with our readers and viewers.
First and foremost, the issues surrounding the event beg the question of whether the market is still a fair place for all investors.
Click through the pages ahead to weigh in on other issues.