AAII Sentiment Survey: Neutral Sentiment at Highest Level Since May

Bullish sentiment is below average for the fourth time in five weeks in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey. Neutral sentiment is at its highest level since May, and bearish sentiment is below average for the second consecutive week.

Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, decreased 7.8 percentage points to 34.4%. Optimism is below its historical average of 37.5% for the fourth time in five weeks.

Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, increased 8.1 percentage points to 36.4%. Neutral sentiment was last higher on May 18, 2023 (37.4%). Neutral sentiment is above its historical average of 31.5% for the fourth time in five weeks.

Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, decreased 0.4 percentage points to 29.2%. Bearish sentiment is below its historical average of 31.0% for the second consecutive week.

The bull-bear spread (bullish minus bearish sentiment) decreased 7.4 percentage points to 5.2%. This is the fourth time in five weeks that the bull-bear spread is below its historical average of 6.5%.

This week’s special question asked AAII members about their perception of inflation. Here are the responses:

• Slowing, but not by enough: 49.4%
• It’s returning to a more acceptable pace: 31.9%
• It’s still rising too quickly: 16.7%
• Other/not sure: 1.7%

See more Sentiment Survey results.