Broker Reports Retail Investors Jump to Stocks in June
By Hal M. Bundrick
NEW YORK (
)--After two consecutive months of bailing out of equities, retail investors plowed back into the stock market last month, according to the June Investor Movement Index of TD Ameritrade. Meanwhile, the same consumers are continuing their flight from fixed income mutual funds and ETFs.
"It's interesting to see the IMX bounce in June as investors led the recent S&P 500 dip," said Nicole Sherrod, managing director of TD Ameritrade's Trader Group. "This indicates that investors got the pullback they anticipated and in response there were days in June when our clients were heavy buyers, dialing up their equity market exposure."
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The report indicates that investors included in the survey have a bullish attitude on equities. The index of retail investor attitudes bounced higher while the S&P 500 hit an intra-month low nearly 6% lower than the record high reached in May. After retreating from equity exposure in May, many consumers looked to the dip in June as a buying opportunity and increased their equity market exposure. June's IMX reading was near the peak of a more than three year history. While consumer goods and basic materials garnered the most favor, the report indicated retail investors were net buyers of nearly all equity sectors in June.
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The most active stocks in the surveyed sample of investors included Tesla Motors (TSLA), Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC). Facebook (FB) was accumulated as it hit new lows for the year in June and Ford (F) found favor among buyers after being a target for selling in May. Other stocks seeing strong volume among buyers included Costco Wholesale (COST), Wells Fargo Company (WFC) and Bank of America (BAC).
Investor sentiment is calculated by TD Ameritrade from a sample of its client base of 6 million funded accounts that have completed a trade in the past two months.
--Written by Hal M. Bundrick
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