Key takeaway: Excessive optimism has been slow to unwind and most of our indicators are back to signalling a high risk environment from a sentiment perspective. Individual investors last week showed the fewest bears since January 2018. While complacency abounds, investor risk appetite remains shy of where it was in March, even with the uptick in speculative activity over the last two weeks. Liquidity conditions have been tightening of late and momentum trends are diverging from price trends. While the apple cart has not been upset, the load is perched precariously and one small stumble could send fruit flying in all directions. It’s not a low-risk load on which to ride.

Key takeaway: Sentiment continues to shift away from optimism and toward pessimism, though as with anything it is not a straight line. Speculative activity is flaring up again this week, the trend in trading volumes and call activity suggests less risk appetite on the part of investors. Optimism unwind is happening in the context of elevated longer-term risks, with earnings growth expectations and valuations at elevated levels. A sideways summer that cools optimism and helps relieve valuation pressures could help pave the way for the resumption of a cyclical rally later this year.

Key takeaway: Sentiment continues to shift from optimism to pessimism. Unlike the March optimism unwind, the current situation is associated with a waning risk appetite on the part of investors and a more challenging liquidity environment. This argues for patience from a tactical perspective and warns against a premature conclusion that the speculative excesses have been removed from the system. While the pullbacks in some of the speculative areas may seem substantial, they still pale in comparison to the run-ups that were seen in late 2020 and early 2021. In such an environment, less may be more. Surviving such unwinds is not only about preserving capital, but also maintaining mental health.

Key takeaway: Amid the economic optimism that is seen in surveys and magazine covers, the stock market is experiencing an unwinding in speculative excesses that has just begun. This shift in risk appetite makes a healthy sentiment reset like we saw in March a less likely outcome this time around. More probably is that we are moving from excessive optimism to some meaningful degree of pessimism. This is the area of the sentiment curve when price is most vulnerable to correction. With upside economic surprises waning and near-term breadth trends more mixed, the choppy environment of the past few weeks could not only persist, but even intensify. 

Key takeaway: A peak within the NASDAQ (or the Technology sector) shows that pockets of speculative excesses are being unwound. There has been enough strength in the market elsewhere, as well as a still favorable earnings and economic data backdrop, to keep investors generally optimistic. In March, market volatility allowed optimism to retreat from excessive levels but not completely unwind. We may be seeing early indications that the current bout of volatility will have a more substantial impact on investor psychology. If so, the price reaction will likely not be as benign as was seen two months ago.

Key takeaway: Evidence of excessive optimism abounds. Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal provide anecdotes for the data: Conservative German savers are increasing their exposure to stocks and investors in the US are crowding into the market, focusing more on chasing returns than managing risks. Cyclical views trend and strategic positioning point to elevated risks but stocks have been buoyed by a favorable news backdrop (positive economic data surprises and upward earnings revisions) and resilient breadth. If these falter and investor appetite for risk fades, those areas of the market where speculative fever has burned the hottest could be the most vulnerable.

Key takeaway: Optimism remains widespread from a cyclical perspective but history shows that it can (and in the past, has) remain elevated for extended periods of time. Options data show  the record surge in call activity over the past year has stalled. If the speculative fever that has helped fuel recent gains is breaking, resiliency beneath the surface and the continued tailwind provided by better than expected earnings and economic data will be increasingly important. After an unprecedented period of positive surprises, we just don’t know how investors would respond to disappointment at this point. We do know that stocks are most vulnerable when optimism is being unwound.

Key takeaway: The heat has been turned up on our sentiment indicators, and optimism is back to a full boil as we see indexes in the US and around the world move to new highs. While it takes bulls to have a bull market, sentiment running too far ahead of reality can be a recipe for some churn. While breadth remains strong and economic & earnings data comes in ahead of expectations, investor optimism may well be rewarded. If breadth falters in a meaningful way and/or incoming data starts to fall short of expectations, the overheated sentiment backdrop would pose an increased burn risk. Investors who can’t tolerate the heat might want to step out of the kitchen for a breath of fresh air. 

Key takeaway: Despite the decreasing exposure of active equity managers, the weight of the evidence continues to lean toward a neutral sentiment backdrop that supports a much needed reset, allowing optimism to rebuild moving forward. Investment managers may be pulling back from the market, but equity ETF inflows have reached record levels. This past month inflows reached over $80 billion, the highest level over a one month period. This may suggest excessive investor positioning but inflows can remain high for extended periods of time before negatively impacting the market. Another piece of information that points to growing optimism is The Consensus Inc. Bullish Sentiment Index as it reached 74% last week, it’s highest level since early 2018. These pockets of investor optimism, within the broader neutral setting, allude to the nature of the recent unwind.

Key takeaway: Despite the decreasing exposure of active equity managers, the weight of the evidence continues to lean toward a neutral sentiment backdrop that supports a much needed reset, allowing optimism to rebuild moving forward. Investment managers may be pulling back from the market, but equity ETF inflows have reached record levels. This past month inflows reached over $80 billion, the highest level over a one month period. This may suggest excessive investor positioning but inflows can remain high for extended periods of time before negatively impacting the market. Another piece of information that points to growing optimism is The Consensus Inc. Bullish Sentiment Index as it reached 74% last week, it’s highest level since early 2018. These pockets of investor optimism, within the broader neutral setting, allude to the nature of the recent unwind.

Key takeaway: The evidence continues to suggest we have recently undergone a healthy unwind in excessive optimism. Investment manager’s equity exposure has dramatically pulled back from extreme readings but remains above levels that signals a shift toward risk aversion risk that can weigh on price. Combining that with budding optimism among individual investors and a supportive, neutral backdrop in sentiment arises. Though global markets lack strength from a tactical perspective, the message remains digestion over deterioration given recent breadth thrusts and that the majority of international markets are in uptrends. For now, the reset in sentiment provides upside potential for both optimism and price.

Key takeaway: After a healthy unwind over the past few weeks that allowed sentiment to reset to neutral, we are seeing optimism rebuild. This uptick in optimism has been accompanied by (as we show in our chart of the week) another breadth thrust. There is room for a further expansion in optimism before it becomes an excessive headwind - and continued broad market strength diminishes such a signal in any event. The combination of breadth thrusts and persistently elevated optimism is reminiscent of the late-2016 to early-2018 period. Then, equity ETFs saw 20 consecutive months of in-flows - we are currently in our 10th consecutive month of inflows (although the pace is quickening, with a record $100 billion over the past four weeks). Equities ran into trouble in early 2018 when breadth thrust tailwinds subsided but elevated optimism remained.