According to PNC Financial Services Group, one of the leading US financial service organisations with $271 billion in assets, almost half of the US wealthy investors are losing confidence in their economy after the divisive government shutdown.

48% of those surveyed in the aftermath of the near US default are dismayed at the results of the shutdown, with 62% holding the belief that the situation will severely damage both the short and long term health of the economy. Moreover, a staggering 76% said the government’s crisis reaction needs to change because ‘the government simply cannot continue to operate this way.’

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PNC conducted this survey among a nationwide cross section of 923 adults with over $500,000 in investable assets. After the events of the government shutdown, PNC re-contacted 200 of those surveyed to see how opinions had changed.

On the other hand, 52% said that they would not be changing the way that they invest and 47% deciding to simply be more cautious in the future.

Before the government shutdown, optimism was on the rise as 32% believed that they were ‘very or somewhat optimistic’ about the current economic situation in the United States, a huge rise from the 10% optimism from two years ago.

Contrary to the pessimism shown by the wealthy investors, there has been a strong market performance. 68% of investors said that their net worth had increased by 20% or more and 12% said their wealth increased by 50% or more.

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Thomas Melcher, executive vice president and managing director of Hawthorn, the family office unit of PNC, said: "We can clearly see from the survey that investor confidence was hurt by the shutdown, but we also see increased sophistication as evidenced by their intention to stay the course."