October AAII Asset Allocation Survey: Equity Allocations Slightly Decrease

Individual investors' allocation to equities fell for the second consecutive month. Fixed-income exposure and cash allocations both rose slightly in the October Asset Allocation Survey.

Stock and stock fund allocations declined 1.5 percentage points to 64.4%. Equity allocations were last lower in April 2023 (64.3%). Even with October's decrease, stock and stock fund allocations are above their historical average of 61.5% for the 41st consecutive month.

Bond and bond fund allocations increased 0.3 percentage points to 15.9%. October marked the 32nd consecutive month with fixed-income allocations below their historical average of 16.0%.

Cash allocations increased 1.2 percentage points to 19.7%. The rise was not enough to prevent cash allocations from staying below their historical average of 22.5% for the 11th consecutive month and the 40th time out of the last 42 months.

Concurrent with equity allocations falling last month, pessimism in the weekly AAII Sentiment Survey reached an unusually high level in October. Additionally, the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to a 16-year high during the month.