As stocks have rebounded during the past week, so have the sentiments of individual investors, according to the
American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) survey of its members for the week ended Aug. 13.
The percentage of respondents who are bullish about stocks for the next six months totaled 39.8 percent, up from 30.9 percent a week earlier. That's the biggest increase in six months.
The percentage who are bearish fell to 27 percent, a six-week low, from 38.3 percent.
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As for the market, the S&P 500 index fell 4.3 percent from its July 24 record high to its low Aug. 7. Since then it has rebounded 2.3 percent.
To be sure, "it should be noted that despite this week’s big changes, both optimism and pessimism remain well within their respective typical ranges," Charles Rotblut, editor of the AAII Journal, writes on
Forbes.com. "Neither is unusually high or low at current levels."
Meanwhile, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has an indicator for stocks based on the sentiment of Wall Street strategists. The indicator shows that stocks move in the opposite direction of strategists' sentiment.
Strategists in the BofA survey currently recommend devoting just 51 percent of your portfolio to stocks, compared to an average of 60 percent over the last 15 years,
The Wall Street Journal reports.
With bearishness at its current level, stocks have gained 98 percent of the time over the past 30 years, Savita Subramanian, chief U.S. stock strategist for BofA, told The Journal.
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