Investor Sentiment Now Even More Interesting

The poll of its members by the American Association of Individual Investors is now at 42.0% bullish, 25.9% bearish. That’s identical to its level on March 29, three days after the S&P 500 topped out into the April-June correction. (On March 29 the AAII poll was at 42.5% bullish, 25.4% bearish).

The Investors Intelligence Sentiment Index is at 51.6% bullish, its highest level of bullishness since the market top in December 2007.

The VIX Index (aka the Fear Index) is at the very low levels of fear (high bullishness) that marked all the rally and market tops of the last five years.

It’s interesting to note that the return of investor sentiment to its exact level of bullishness and confidence at its April peak is accompanied by the S&P 500 returning to its exact level at the April peak.

 

Here’s another similarity
While investors have become bullish and confident again, usually savvy corporate insiders are selling heavily into the rally again.

Trim Tabs Research reports that insider selling surged to $6.1 billion in August, with insider selling amounting to 30.6 times insider buying, the highest ratio of selling to buying since Trim Tabs began tracking the data in 2004.