A 'confused, drunken walk'

The market has no clue where to go or how to get there. That's why sentiment is turning neutral.

By Kim Peterson Feb 19, 2010 2:01PM
Man with head in hands © CorbisInvestor sentiment is again changing as "the bi-polar market continues its confused, drunken walk," writes The Pragmatic Capitalist.

Apparently, the "correction," if you can call it that, has done nothing to make investors more sure-footed one way or the other.

Before the correction, a survey by Investors Intelligence showed a 52% bullish reading. Now, that's dropped to 35.6%. The bearish percentage is at 27.8%.

With this much confusion, it's no wonder that neutral sentiment is on the rise. In fact, it's hit a six-week high, The Pragmatic Capitalist reports.

Almost 30% of investors think the markets will remain flat over the next six months, according to TPC.

All in all sentiment has shifted back to a neutral reading as the markets stabilize.  This high volatility in sentiment is a clear sign of utter confusion on the part of market participants and creates a landscape that is ripe for dramatic moves in either direction.



3Comments
Report
Please help us to maintain a healthy and vibrant community by reporting any illegal or inappropriate behavior. If you believe a message violates theCode of Conductplease use this form to notify the moderators. They will investigate your report and take appropriate action. If necessary, they report all illegal activity to the proper authorities.
Categories
100 character limit
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?

DATA PROVIDERS

Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.

Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.

Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.

STOCK SCOUTER

StockScouter rates stocks from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, using a system of advanced mathematics to determine a stock's expected risk and return. Ratings are displayed on a bell curve, meaning there will be fewer ratings of 1 and 10 and far more of 4 through 7.

131
131 rated 1
262
262 rated 2
442
442 rated 3
602
602 rated 4
720
720 rated 5
585
585 rated 6
612
612 rated 7
456
456 rated 8
279
279 rated 9
124
124 rated 10
12345678910

Top Picks

SYMBOLNAMERATING
ABTAbbott Laboratories10
AIGAmerican International Group Inc10
ATVIActivision Blizzard Inc10
CACA Inc10
CSCOCisco Systems Inc10
More
Fidelity Brokerage Services, Member NYSE, SIPC. (c) 2011 FMR LLC. All rights reserved

VIDEO ON MSN MONEY

ABOUT

Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.

Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.

Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.