Thursday, September 4, 2014

Investors Intelligence: Bears at Lowest Since February 1987

It's probably nothing.
We're still looking for ~1900 on the S&P500 and another run up before any serious damage is done to the long side but it is boring.

We first posted that target in August 22's "In Rainy Jackson Hole, Yellen Ponders Labor Market Mojo" at S&P 1992.60, reiterated in "Equities: 'Some Retracement Imminent ….. Probably'" at 1996.87 on the 25th and re-reiterated in "UPDATED--Société Générale's Albert Edwards Is ALIVE!" only to see a new all-time high (2011.17) today before the market reversed and closed down a few points at 1997.65.

Boring!
Here's Ryan Detrick at Yahoo Finance:
Bears At Their Lowest Level Since 1987. Now What?
The big news today isn’t coming from the economy or world events, it is the fact the number of bears in the US Advisors’ Sentiment Report came in at their lowest level since February 1987 at just 13.3%.
This matters because many use this poll as a contrarian indicator.  The thinking goes if there are no bears left, then we could be near a major peak as there is no one left to buy as everyone is bullish.  Lastly, this poll looks at what newsletter writers are thinking.  
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Then the fact the last time the bears were beneath 14% was in 1987 and you have all the ingredients for an intriguing headline as well.  Now before you go out and sell all your stocks, remember the S&P 500 (SPX) gained +16.6% the six months after the late February signal in 1987.  Sure, we had the one-day crash of 20% later in October, but there were some spectacular gains to be had for a long time first....MORE
I know the old pros are adamant: "Never short a dull market" but man-o-man this is tempting.