The Big Picture - Macro Perspective on the Capital Markets, Economy, Technology, and Digital Media

Here’s a check up on stock market sentiment in light of the recent pullback that has taken the S&P’s back to levels last seen on May 1st. The AAII (American Assoc of Individual Investors) weekly measure of individual investor sentiment towards the stock market over the next 6 months showed a spread between bulls and bears at the highest level since March 12th at 26.8 as bears rose to 54.7 from 44.6 and bulls fell to 27.9 from 37.8. At the early March lows in the S&P’s, the spread did get as wide as 51.4 when bears spiked to 70.3 and bulls plunged to 18.9. The data is very fickle week to week and differs from the weekly Investors Intelligence data which surveys newsletter writers.