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[TTHQ Staff]

INVESTOR OPTIMISM DECLINES FOR THIRD MONTH IN A ROW (from UBS)

High Energy Prices, Real Estate Market Conditions Dominate Investor Concerns
NEW YORK, April 23, 2007 – Investor optimism fell for the third month in a row in April,
continuing a downward slide since the beginning of 2007. The Index has fallen 31 points over
the past three months and now stands at 74, according to the UBS/Gallup Index of Investor
Optimism. The Index is now at its lowest level since September 2006 when it also stood at 74.
The Index is conducted monthly and had a baseline score of 124 when it was established in
October 1996.

The recent surge in gasoline prices is one of the major reasons for the decline in investor
optimism. Over the past three months, investors’ concerns about energy prices have been
creeping upwards. In April nearly three-quarters of investors (72 percent) said that they
believe energy prices are hurting the current investment climate “a lot,” up from 63 percent in
March and 58 percent in February. This is the highest level of investor concern about energy
prices since 78 percent of investors responded this way in August 2006 when the price of
gasoline was at one of its highest points for 2006.

Investors continue to brace for increasing prices at the pump. On average, investors reported
paying $2.73 for a gallon of gasoline during the first half of April, up $0.23 from what they
said they were paying a month ago and $0.52 from what they were paying two months ago.
In February, respondents said they expected to pay $2.39 per gallon over the subsequent three
months. Investors are already paying far above that level and now expect gasoline prices to
increase to an average of $3.02 a gallon over the next three months.

“Even as the equity markets reach new highs, investors are troubled by fundamental economic
issues that directly impact their bottom line – energy prices and real estate. With the
slowdown in real estate sales this spring, traditionally the strongest sales season, investors are
particularly sensitive to these issues,” said Mike Ryan, Head of UBS Wealth Management
Research Americas.

The continued deterioration of the residential real estate market remains a top investor
concern. In April, seven in ten investors said conditions in the residential real estate market
nationwide are getting worse, not better, approximately the same as the 72 percent in March
and up from the 63 percent in February who felt this way.

Read the rest in the New Market Analysis Area

[da_cheif]

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