AAII Sentiment Survey: Neutral Sentiment Jumps

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 6.1 percentage points to 38.0%. Bullish sentiment is above its historical average of 37.5% for the sixth time in eight weeks.

Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, increased 6.7 percentage points to 25.8%. Neutral sentiment is below its historical average of 31.5% for the 68th time in 70 weeks.

Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, decreased 0.6 percentage points to 36.3%. Bearish sentiment is above its historical average of 31.0% for the 49th time in 51 weeks.

The bull-bear spread (bullish minus bearish sentiment) decreased 5.5 percentage points to 1.7%. The bull-bear spread is below its historical average of 6.5% for the 36th time in 40 weeks.

This week’s special question asked AAII members what they think about the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut rates by 0.25 percentage points.

Here is how they responded:

• It was the right move: 54.2%
• They should have left rates unchanged: 29.6%
• They should have cut rates by more percentage points: 9.5%
• They should have raised rates: 1.6%
• Not sure/no opinion: 5.1%

See more Sentiment Survey results.