Blood in the water?

Here is the cover of The Economist's latest issue. It shows a "Jaws"- like image of a shark's dorsal fin peeking above the water. This image screams "hidden danger" and the caption, in bold red letters, is "Fear Returns".

I think this image reflects the sudden return to strong bearish sentiment that has been induced by the U.S. stock market's 15% drop in May. It also reinforces the reluctance of the average investor to "get back in the water". So I think it is a strong positive portent of the market's future direction from current levels (Friday's S&P 500 close was 1089).

Along the same lines I want to bring to your attention the latest weekly sentiment survey of the American Association of Individual Investors. It shows 50% of those responding expressing bearish views about the near term direction of the market, the highest level in more than six months. It is unusual to see more than 50% bears in this survey since the AAII members tend to be generally bullish on stock prices.

All in all, I think the current market juncture is a buying opportunity for the aggressive contrarian trader. But since he already is carrying an above average stock market commitment from the 690 level in the S&P 500 no further action is required.