Mixed signals in stock market causing investor misery, but rally continues.
Despite the S&P 500 popping its head through the 4,200 level again, investors are expressing misery about the market. However, this negative sentiment is a potential catalyst for positive forward returns, according to George Smith, portfolio strategist at LPL Research. The spread between the bulls and the bears is at minus 17%, versus a long-term average of plus 2%, implying further market gain. Extremes in pessimism in the American Association of Individual Investors data are, on average, bullish for near-term stock market returns.