AAII Sentiment Survey: Bearish Sentiment Plummets

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

Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, increased 2.1 percentage points to 41.5%. Bullish sentiment is above its historical average of 37.5% for the 52nd time in 53 weeks.

Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, increased 1.3 percentage points to 30.9%. Neutral sentiment is below its historical average of 31.5% for the 17th time in 18 weeks.

Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, decreased 3.3 percentage points to 27.6%. Bearish sentiment is below its historical average of 31.0% for the 12th time in 13 weeks.

The bull-bear spread (bullish minus bearish sentiment) increased 5.4 percentage points to 14.0%. The bull-bear spread is above its historical average of 6.5% for the 26th time in 27 weeks.

This week’s special question asked AAII members their perception on inflation.

Here is how they responded:

• It is returning to a more acceptable pace: 44.6%
• It is slowing but not by enough: 35.7%
• It is still rising too quickly: 15.5%
• Not sure/no opinion: 3.9%

See more Sentiment Survey results.