Smart Stock Market Investors Beware – Bullish Investor Sentiment Going Up While Corporate Buybacks Going Down

ByBrad Lamensdorf

We use investor sentiment as a contrarian indicator of the stock market’s direction. Smart Stock Market Investors Beware. The latest Investor Intelligence Bulls/Bears poll of stock market newsletter writers shows increased bullishness, which is a negative since these writers are usually wrong. Even more worrisome for stocks is the fact that corporate buybacks, which have…

Buy-back Blackouts Could Be Trouble For The Stock Market

ByBrad Lamensdorf

Buy-back Blackouts Could Be Trouble For The Stock Market. Last week’s chart highlighted the fact that over the last several years corporations have been the dominant buyers in the market. In a few weeks, the corporate buyback blackout period will commence. Corporations are restricted as to when they can purchase. This restriction is based on when each…

Huge Corporate Stock Buyback Programs Are Not a Healthy Sign for the Stock Market or the Economy

ByBrad Lamensdorf

As the second chart below shows, corporations have been the main buyer of stocks since the market low. Corporate Stock Buyback Programs Are Not a Healthy Sign. As the first chart shows, rather than spend corporate profits on expansion, they are spending the money mainly on dividends and buying back their own stock. Notice in…

Wishy Washy Sentiment Numbers Mean Stock Market Investors Should Remain Cautious

ByBrad Lamensdorf

We use investor sentiment as an important gauge on the direction of the stock market. Sentiment Numbers Mean Stock Market Investors Should Remain Cautious. The latest Investor Intelligence Bulls/Bears poll of newsletter writers show that the May and August corrections were not strong enough to create the type of negative sentiment signaling buying opportunities that traditionally…

Watch Out: Wall Street Firms Hit 7-Year High in Allocation to the Stock Market

ByBrad Lamensdorf

Wall Street Firms Hit 7-Year High in Allocation to the Stock Market. Despite the stock market’s high volatility sparked by worries about the domestic and global economies, Wall Street strategists are telling clients to overweight their portfolios in stocks at the highest level in seven years (see chart below from Bloomberg) as opposed to being…