Art auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s remain confident that financial market jitters will not dampen spending at their upcoming sales and prices for Impressionist and contemporary art will continue to soar. The November sales, which will see major works by Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol go on the block, come as deteriorating housing and credit markets continue to threaten world financial markets - and rattle nerves. But officials say they are not overly concerned, in part due to increasing perceptions of art as a growing, tangible asset. “While people in finance used to think of art as a nonperforming asset and advised their clients that way, they now see it as a performing asset, and often are the ones buying art themselves,” said Anthony Grant, Sotheby’s senior specialist for contemporary art. As a result, “We’re seeing a lot of people this week we’ve never heard of,” he added, describing art as the only “performing assets with the bonus of its sitting in your home or hanging on your walls.” Sotheby’s share price fell by more than a third in the wake of the US credit squeeze in July and August on concerns that its wealthy clients would have less money to spend on art - but the stock has since rebounded, hitting a 52-week high on October 11 at $61.40. It has since eased back and closed on Thursday at $51.82. Christie’s president Marc Porter said all “the major buyers are still here, and new buyers are coming in all the time.” Art Newspaper’s market editor Georgina Adam predicted that while “the art market will not continue to rise forever, in the short term it will continue to be strong.” The top lot during the two weeks of fall sales is Gauguin‘s Tahitian scene ‘Te Poipoi (The Morning),’ which leads Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern sale and is forecast to sell for up to $60 million. But the spotlight will again be on the contemporary and post-war market. The spring sales saw a Rothko and a Warhol each sold for more than $70 million and total sales set records. Top prices for later-20th century works had long trailed the long-dominant Impressionist works, and had rarely exceeded $20 million. Amy Cappellazzo, Christie’s international co-head for contemporary art, said that “as the market ticks upward, it brings out the top quality works that collectors are seeking.” Porter said contemporary art is “the field with the deepest and most energetic group of collectors. It’s what this generation wants.”