Retail Investors Haven't Been This Clueless About Outlook For Stocks In 26 Years

The retail investor crowd are apparently as clueless about the stock market as they have been in over 12 years. The American Association of Individual Investors latest survey, for the week ended April 29, showed that the percentage of retail investors who were neutral on stocks for the next six months increased 1.9 percentage points to 47.2%, the highest since the week ended Feb. 6, 2003. It also marked the fourth-straight week with a neutral reading of at least 45% since the week four-week stretch ending Jan. 6, 1989. The S&P 500 struggled over the next several weeks following the high neutral reading in February 2003, but was up 11% three months later. A month after the January 1989 streak, the S&P 500 was 5.5% higher, and was 5.2% three months later.