Thursday, April 17, 2008

Investor Sentiment: Indecision

The American Association of Individual Investors reported a significant decline in bullish investor sentiment this week. The investor bullish sentiment level fell to 30.37% versus last week's reading of 45.76%. The offset was an increase in bearish sentiment to 48.69% versus 37.29% last week. The bull/bear spread equaled -18% versus +8% last week. Interestingly, we have seen the S&P 500 Index trend higher by about 1% on the week.

As noted in my prior post on Tuesday, The Market May Be Setting Itself Up For An Extended Move Higher, I get the sense the market is wanting to move higher given high investor cash levels, high levels of negative news flow and respectable earnings outside the financial sector. Google's (GOOG) earnings report tonight may add fuel to the fire on Friday. In after hours trading Google is up $76.46 or 17% from the early close today. Companies in all but the financial sector appear to be reporting respectable earnings for the first quarter, with a few exceptions like General Electric (GE). GE's miss was attributable to the company's financial business though.

(click on chart for larger image)



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