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INVESTORS SETTLE INTO THE MIDDLE AS NEUTRAL SENTIMENT JUMPS - AAII

Neutral sentiment among individual investors about the short-term outlook for the U.S. stock market jumped in the latest American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) Sentiment Survey. With this, optimism edged up, while pessimism fell back.

Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of investors surveyed said the Federal Reserve's recent decision to keep interest rates unchanged was the "right move."

AAII reported that neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, gained 6.6 percentage points to 28.7% (highest since a 31.4% reading on March 4). Neutral sentiment is below its historical average of 31.5% for the 94th time in 96 weeks.

Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, slid 6.7 percentage points to 33.0%. Bearish sentiment is above its historical average of 31.0% for the 13th consecutive week.

Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, added 0.2 percentage points to 38.3%. Bullish sentiment is above its historical average of 37.5% for the third time in 12 weeks.

The bull-bear spread rose about 7 percentage points to about 5.4% from about -1.6% last week. The bull-bear spread is below its historical average of 6.5% for the 12th time in 13 weeks.

In this week's special question, AAII asked its members what they thought of the Federal Reserve's recent decision to leave its target rate unchanged.

Here is the AAII graphic showing how they responded.

(Terence Gabriel)

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