Stock Market Sentiment Readings Mostly Bearish

The Investors Intelligence Bull/Bear Ratio remained below 1.00 this week for the eighth consecutive week, holding at 0.96 for a third week, after falling steadily from 1.15 in mid-September to 0.57 four weeks ago—which was the lowest since March 2009 (chart). Bullish sentiment dipped for the second week to 35.2% after increasing the prior two weeks from 25.0% (the fewest bulls since early 2016) to 36.9%. Bearish sentiment exceeded bullish sentiment for the eighth week, though it fell for the fourth week, by a total of 7.5ppts (to 36.6% from 44.1%). It was the largest group for the sixth consecutive week, unseating the correction count—which held the top spot for the prior four weeks.