AAII Sentiment Survey: Optimism Rises Above Average

Optimism among individual investors about the short-term outlook for stocks rose in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey. Meanwhile, pessimism and neutral sentiment decreased.

Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, rebounded 6.4 percentage points to 38.5%. Bullish sentiment is above its historical average of 37.5% for the 25th time in 26 weeks.

Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, decreased 4.9 percentage points to 29.0%. Neutral sentiment is below its historical average of 31.5% for the fifth time in seven weeks.

Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, decreased 1.4 percentage points to 32.5%. Pessimism is above its historical average of 31.0% for the third consecutive week.

The bull-bear spread (bullish minus bearish sentiment) increased 7.8 percentage points to 6.0%. The bull-bear spread is below its historical average of 6.5% for the third consecutive week.

This week’s special question asked AAII members if they believe gold’s recent record high prices are sustainable over the next year.

Here is how they responded:

• Gold prices will increase further: 23.6%
• Yes, gold prices will stabilize at current levels: 17.6%
• No, gold prices will decrease moderately: 29.6%
• No, gold prices will significantly drop: 3.8%
• Don’t follow gold prices/no opinion: 25.1%

See more Sentiment Survey results.