November 14, 2025: AAII Sentiment Survey - Pessimism Takes Flight

Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, decreased 6.4 percentage points to 31.6%.

Pessimism among individual investors about the short-term outlook for stocks increased in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey. Meanwhile, optimism and neutral sentiment decreased.

Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, decreased 6.4 percentage points to 31.6%. Bullish sentiment is below its historical average of 37.5% for the third time in five weeks.

Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, decreased 6.5 percentage points to 19.2%. Neutral sentiment is unusually low and is below its historical average of 31.5% for the 69th time in 71 weeks.

Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, increased 12.9 percentage points to 49.1%. Bearish sentiment is unusually high and is above its historical average of 31.0% for the 50th time in 52 weeks.

The bull-bear spread (bullish minus bearish sentiment) decreased 19.2 percentage points to –17.5%. The bull-bear spread is unusually low and is below its historical average of 6.5% for the 37th time in 41 weeks.

This week’s special question asked AAII members what impact they think the government shutdown is having on the economy.

Here is how they responded:

• It’s slowing the economy: 55.8%

• The impact is limited: 19.5%

• It’s not having much of an impact yet, but that could change: 18.7%

• It’s not impacting the economy: 3.6%

• Not sure/no opinion: 2.4%

This week’s Sentiment Survey results:

Bullish: 31.6%, down 6.4 points
Neutral: 19.2%, down 6.5 points
Bearish: 49.1%, up 12.9 points

Historical averages:

Bullish: 37.5%
Neutral: 31.5%
Bearish: 31.0%

See more Sentiment Survey results.