AAII Sentiment Survey: Neutral Sentiment Rises

Neutral sentiment among individual investors about the short-term outlook for stocks increased in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey. Meanwhile, optimism and pessimism decreased.

Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, decreased 2.7 percentage points to 47.3%. Bullish sentiment is above its historical average of 37.5% for the 22nd consecutive week.

Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, increased 2.9 percentage points to 30.5%. Neutral sentiment is below its historical average of 31.5% for the eighth time in 10 weeks.

Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, decreased 0.2 percentage points to 22.2%. Bearish sentiment is below its historical average of 31.0% for the 22nd consecutive week.

The bull-bear spread (bullish minus bearish sentiment) decreased 2.5 percentage points to 25.1%. The bull-bear spread is above its historical average of 6.5% for the 22nd consecutive week.

This week’s special question asked AAII members how they would describe the current valuation of stocks.

Here is how they responded:

• Stocks, in general, are overvalued: 39.0%
• Stocks, in general, are fairly valued: 17.4%
• Valuations are mixed, with some stocks expensive and others cheap: 39.3%
• Stocks, in general, are undervalued: 2.7%
• Not sure/no opinion: 1.2%

See more Sentiment Survey results.