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INDIVIDUAL INVESTOR NEUTRAL CAMP GROWS - AAII
Neutral sentiment over the short-term outlook for the U.S. stock market increased in the most recent American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) Sentiment Survey released late last week. With this, both optimism and pessimism declined.
Meanwhile, a majority of investors surveyed say that the market's year-to-date returns have been better than they expected compared to how they thought things would play out at the start of 2024.
AAII reported that sentiment, or expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the six months, jumped 5.0 percentage points to 32.2%. Neutral sentiment is below its historical average of 31.5% for the 10th time in 16 weeks.
Bullish sentiment, or expectations that stock prices will rise over the six months, dipped 2.8 percentage points to 44.5%. Bullish sentiment is above its historical average of 37.5% for the 34th time in 35 weeks.
Bearish sentiment, or expectations that stock prices will fall over the six months, lost 2.2 percentage points to 26.1%. Bearish sentiment is below its historical average of 31.0% for the eighth time in 12 weeks.
With these changes, the bull-bear spread slipped 0.5 percentage points to 15.6% from 16.1% last week. The bull-bear spread is above its historical average of 6.5% for the straight week.
In this week’s special question, AAII asked its members how the stock market's year-to-date returns compare to their expectations at the start of 2024.
Here is AAII's graphic showing how those investors responded:
(Terence Gabriel)
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FOR MONDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:
COASTING ON THE UPDRAFT: STOCKS RISE AT START OF ACTION-PACKED WEEK - CLICK HERE
DOW INDUSTRIALS: 40K OR BUST? - CLICK HERE
BRITAIN UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT - CLICK HERE
ANY HOPE FOR CHINA'S BRUISED YUAN? - CLICK HERE
LONG FINANCIALS "MAKES SENSE" AS TRUMP TRADE - CLICK HERE
STOXX FLIPS INTO THE BLACK - CLICK HERE
CAC 40 FUTURES LEAD DECLINES IN EUROPE - CLICK HERE
FRENCH LEFT OUTFLANKS THE RIGHT - CLICK HERE