LIVE MARKETS-Pessimism grows as stocks climb - AAII

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PESSIMISM GROWS AS STOCKS CLIMB - AAII

As major U.S. stock indexes have galloped to multiple record highs in recent days, investor pessimism has increased, according to the latest AAII Sentiment Survey.

Bearish sentiment, or expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, jumped 6.1 percentage points to 49.5%, said AAII, putting it well above its historical average of 31.5% for the 41st time in 43 weeks.

In addition, bullish sentiment, or expectations that stocks will rise over the next six months, declined, dropping 4.7 percentage points to 28.0% and putting it below its 37.5% historical average for the seventh time in 11 weeks.

The bull-bear spread tumbled by 16.6 percentage points to -21.5%, which AAII said is "unusually low" and marks the 30th time in 32 weeks below its 6.5% historical average.

Neutral sentiment - expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months - dipped 1.5 percentage points to 22.5% and is below its 31.5% historical average for the 60th time in 62 weeks.

(Chuck Mikolajczak)

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