AAII Survey Shows Big Drop, Low Optimism

This week, the Bull Ratio (Bulls / (Bulls + Bears)) dropped below 32%, an exceptionally low reading since the financial crisis. Even going back to the survey’s inception over 30 years ago, it’s still extreme. Especially considering that the S&P 500 has held above its 52-week moving average. When we see such pessimism despite a healthy market, it smacks of irrational pessimism.

Not only is the Bull Ratio very low, it showed a dramatic drop this week, more than 30% from last week. During any kind of market environment, this is extreme.