Despite Market Rebound, More than a Quarter of Institutional Investors Expect another Dive

Since the market ""crash"" of last spring, The NYSE Financial Stock Index is up 137 percent. The S&P 500 has climbed 58 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen 51 percent, and the Nasdaq is up 69 percent. [IMAGE]

Judging by the numbers, it would appear that the U.S. financial markets are treading on the upside of a so-called V-shaped resurgence. Some economists, Wall Street-ers, and even global financial players, though, are expecting a double-dip recession â€" otherwise known as a W-shaped recovery â€" and are bracing for the market to plunge to the crippling lows seen back in March of this year.

In a recent survey of 103 institutional investors, ""TheMarkets.com"":http://www.themarkets.com/ found that 27 percent think the market has yet to hit its bottom. For respondents based outside the United States, the number jumps to 41 percent.

While levels of market optimism are higher this quarter than they were in the prior two quarters, TheMarkets.com says that the past six months of a growing market have not convinced investors that the worst is behind us.

Despite their relative pessimism about the market bottom, respondents based outside the United States were more confident about the speed of future recovery than their U.S.-based counterparts, with almost 50 percent of them expecting the S&P 500 to return to 1500 by the end of 2011, versus 21 percent of U.S.-based investors. More than half of respondents in the U.S. think the S&P 500 won't return to its pre-collapse highs until 2013 or later.

The survey, reaching professional investors in 20 countries, was conducted by ""TheMarkets.com"":http://www.themarkets.com/, a provider of research, estimates, and workflow solutions to institutional investors worldwide.