As Bearish Sentiment Plummets, Here Is How The Market Fares Following Peak Bullish Extremes

As Bespoke points out, bearish sentiment as calculated by Investors Intelligence in the past week plunged by a whopping 32 from 23.1% to 15.7%. This is the most bullish since late 2009. Empirically speaking, this is bad news for the market, as there are virtually no contrarians left and everyone is on the same side of the boat. As John Lohman demonstrates, the returns 1, 3, 5 and 10 weeks following a more than 25% drop in bearish sentiment are as follows: -0.92%, -2.07%, -1.99%, and -1.95%, respectively. Yet of all these, only the drop in November 2009 was actually executed in an environment of central planning such as the one that continues through today: and in that one the market actually rose 0.01%, 1.38% and 3.22% in the 1, 3, and 5 weeks following (and dropped 1.6% ten weeks later). Will the current shift in sentiment revert to the average, or will the market continue to price in aggressive Fed central planning? Stay tuned and find out.