AAII Sentiment Survey: Bullish Sentiment Below Average for First Time in 11 Weeks
by AAII Staff | August 17, 2023
Bullish sentiment decreased, ending its 10-week streak of above-average readings in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey. Both neutral and bearish sentiment increased.
Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, decreased 8.8 percentage points to 35.9%. After 10 consecutive weeks of above-average readings, optimism is below its historical average of 37.5%.
Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, increased 4.2 percentage points to 34.0%. Neutral sentiment is above its historical average of 31.5% for the third time in 11 weeks.
Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, increased 4.6 percentage points to 30.1%. At 11 consecutive weeks, this is the longest that pessimism has been below its historical average of 31.0% since a 23-week streak from February to July 2021.
The bull-bear spread (bullish minus bearish sentiment) decreased 13.4 percentage points to 5.8%. This is the first time in 11 weeks that the bull-bear spread is below its historical average of 6.5%.
This week’s special questions asked AAII members how they would describe the current economy. Here are the responses:
- Strong: 13.8%
- Mixed with areas of strength and weakness: 69.2%
- Weak: 15.9%
- Not sure/no opinion: 1.2%
Bullish: 35.9%, down 8.8 points
Neutral: 34.0%, up 4.2 points
Bearish: 30.1%, up 4.6 points
Bullish: 37.5%
Neutral: 31.5%
Bearish: 31.0%
See more Sentiment Survey results.
Discussion
KEVIN S from CA posted over 3 years ago:
Being short tech has paid off handsomely. Sold most a bit early, but hogs do get slaughtered. Sorry to see survey moving away from bullish-hurts my contrarian style. Good luck. These are some tricky times.
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