Markets Testing New Highs - Are You Bullish?

Here is a video of a dog that wants to play fetch with a statue.

 

 

This playful dog doesn't understand why the statue won't throw the stick, but it keeps trying. It reminds me of the games the market is playing to entice someone to play.

The Markets Are Testing New Highs.

While the S&P 500 is still below its high from October 2007, that NASDAQ Composite flirted inches from its highest close since December 12, 2000.

So, Are You Bullish?

We hear a lot about how investors are overly optimistic ... but a look at the latest numbers from AAII shows that bullish sentiment has dropped to under 31%.  Again, we are near highs.  That isn't overly bullish; frankly, it seems a little strange.

Normally, I would take the lack of bullishness as a contrarian indicator (meaning crowds are often wrong at turning points ... so the lack of bulls would indicate a push higher was likely).  However, I'm starting to think that there is little "real" investor capital at risk in the U.S. Equity markets right now. 

When the real money wants to play, I'm not sure it will like the game.

 

Related articles

• Investors Turn Even Less Bullish As Stocks Decline (bespokeinvest.com)
• Bearish Sentiment Hits 8 Week High (pragcap.com)
• 2 emails and zero calls, Street still bullish (ritholtz.com)