Next Time You See “4 Times as Many Bulls as There Are Bears,” Remember This
See how stock investors’ “historic optimism” served as a warning
by Bob Stokes
Updated: July 20, 2021
After a 12-year uptrend, just when caution might be in order, investor psychology has remained highly and stubbornly optimistic.
As our July Elliott Wave Financial Forecast said:
Large traders are more exuberant than ever. On June 11, large trader buy-to-open call purchases jumped to 45%, a new record.
A highly bullish outlook was also expressed in this July 10 Marketwatch headline:
The bull market in stocks may last up to five years -- here are six reasons why
Notice that the headline's suggestion is that the bull market has just started.
That five-year forecast might turn out to be correct -- but then again, keep this in mind from an earlier 2021 Financial Forecast:
A top never feels like a top. The bigger they are, the more permanent they seem.
And here's yet another recent look at sentiment via a chart and commentary from our July 14 U.S. Short Term Update:
The most recent result of the weekly Investors Intelligence Advisors' Survey (InvestorsIntelligence.com) shows that the percentage of bulls rose to 61.2%... With the percentage of bears dropping to just 15.3%, there are now four times as many bulls as there are bears. Since the stock market crash of 1987, a span of a Fibonacci 34 years, only 1.5% of the total weekly readings in the II bull/bear ratio have been higher than the 4-to-1 ratio of this past week.
Interestingly, just two days after this analysis published, the Dow Industrials dropped nearly 300 points on Friday (July 16) and on the following Monday, as of this writing, the Dow has tumbled more than 900 points.
To stay independent from the sentiment of the crowd, it's a good idea to employ Elliott wave analysis and other technical indicators. They will help you stay on track -- objectively, independently from the "bullish" news that inevitably fools the crowd.
You can find our Elliott wave analysis of the stock market in our flagship investor package, which includes the U.S. Short Term Update, the Elliott Wave Financial Forecast and the Elliott Wave Theorist.
Just follow the link below.
Gold Has Traced Out a Signature Elliott Wave Pattern
That Elliott wave pattern is crucial to know because it strongly suggests what's next for the precious metal -- plus, that pattern reveals gold's main trend.
You can get timely insights about gold and silver in our July Financial Forecast Service -- plus, if you're a stock investor, you'll find a section titled:
Momentum Considerations
Remember, "momentum" is one of the three fundamentals of stock market forecasting described by Elliott Wave International President Robert Prechter in an Elliott Wave Theorist:
The three pillars of market analysis and forecasting are patterns, momentum and sentiment.
Get our analysis of the stock market and precious metals by following the link below.
“Lizard People” and Other Conspiracies: What’s Social Mood Got to Do with It?
In a word, everything. From political conspiracies to Covid-related ones to the theories so bizarre that they seem too silly to be relevant, we live in the golden age of conspiracy theories. And while it’s easy to blame social media for their spread, we think the roots go deeper. Watch our new Mood Riff episode where the host Greg Eident explains some fascinating socionomic findings on the subject.
Investing: What You Can Learn from Mom and Pop
Sentiment indicators provide valuable information, yet they are best used in conjunction with Elliott wave analysis. Here's one time-tested indicator that has recently displayed a "big surge."
Market Trek: "No crowd buys stocks of other countries intelligently"
When you track historical patterns of foreign investments in U.S. equities, an important picture emerges. Watch as our Market Trek host Brian Whitmer walks you through a chart of the collective foreign buying interest going back to the 1990s and through today. (Brian's global destination is South Korea.)
by LiveHelpNow!