NEW YORK, May 30, 2018 - /PRNewswire/ -- Rising interest rates and inflation - not Presidential tweets - are driving self-directed investors in their trading activity, according to a recent survey by Firstrade Securities, a leading online brokerage firm. Fully 41 percent of self-directed investors consider rising interest rates to be their top trade trigger thus far in 2018 followed by inflation concerns at 27 percent.
In addition, 43 percent have made a stock purchase based on a recent news article; 37 percent based on a list of "top" stocks; 12 percent on advice from a friend; and just two percent on a Presidential tweet.
The online survey of 562 Firstrade customers was conducted in March and April. It also found that:
Asked about what attributes are most valued when investing in a publicly-traded company, respondents answered in order of importance:
- financial performance
- reputation
- popular products
- corporate governance
- new products
- U.S.-based
- environmentally friendly More than 85 percent of those surveyed said that tax reform has had no impact on their retirement goals.
41 percent surveyed are less confident in a continued bull market in 2018, with 14 percent more confident and 45 percent feeling about the same.
24 percent of respondents use a mobile app to trade while 70 percent do not, with 6 percent indicating that they plan to use a mobile app in the near future.
"From time to time we like to poll our customer base on investing trends to gauge how they are shaping their investment decisions," said John Liu, Firstrade's founder and chief executive officer. "While we can understand that investors base their decisions on rising interest rates and concerns about inflation, who would have ever thought that even the smallest percentage of investors would make stock purchases based on a tweet by the President. How times have changed!"