Editor's note: This is a transcript of the audio file.
Americans' feelings of financial security hit a 17-month high in April. What contributed to this surge? I'm Kristin Arnold with the Bankrate.com Personal Finance Minute.
Thanks to a buoyant stock market, Americans are on the cusp of actually feeling like their financial security is improving. And savings, which has been a sore spot all along, has improved 5 months in a row. But it wasn't all good news, as Bankrate.com senior financial analyst Greg McBride explains.
With a disappointing 120,000 new jobs being added in March, consumers' feelings of job security slipped back into negative territory after 3 consecutive months on the positive side.
Greg, with interest rates at record lows and the stock market near a 4-year high, are consumers warming to the idea of investing in stocks at all?
No, they're not. Just 18 percent of Americans say they are now more inclined to invest in the stock market due to low savings rates, and only 23 percent of those under age 30 feel this way, despite the longer time horizons and increased burden of retirement savings they have.
For more information on this month's poll, visit our website Bankrate.com. I'm Kristin Arnold.