AAII Sentiment Survey: Neutral Sentiment Decreases

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

Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, increased 0.1 percentage points to 44.5%. Bullish sentiment is above its historical average of 37.5% for the 33rd time in 34 weeks.

Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, decreased 6.0 percentage points to 27.2%. Neutral sentiment is below its historical average of 31.5% for the ninth time in 15 weeks.

Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, increased 5.8 percentage points to 28.3%. Bearish sentiment is below its historical average of 31.0% for the seventh time in 11 weeks.

The bull-bear spread (bullish minus bearish sentiment) decreased 5.7 percentage points to 16.1%. The bull-bear spread is above its historical average of 6.5% for the eighth consecutive week.

This week’s special question asked AAII members what information they think is most important as companies report second-quarter 2024 earnings.

Here is how they responded:

• Guidance on future revenues and earnings: 34.1%
• Sales and/or earnings growth: 26.9%
• Whether earnings were better or worse than expected: 19.7%
• Fundamentals such as the balance sheet or cash flow: 16.8%
• Other: 1.4%

See more Sentiment Survey results.