Bearish Ranks Swelling as Investors Remain ‘Dazed and Confused’

The S&P 500 Index’s 8 percent drop since the start of 2016 has swelled the ranks of the market’s bears, according to Mike Loewengart, Vice President of Investment Strategy at E*Trade (ETFC). 'There is a lot of uncertainty weighing on investors’ minds that we see stemming from news overseas with declining growth in China, along with declining energy prices as well, and that’s causing investors to be uncertain in their outlook,' said Loewengart. Loewengart was referring to a new first quarter 2016 sentiment survey out from E*Trade which showed 55 percent of respondents categorizing themselves as bearish versus bullish, up from an even split in the fourth quarter of 2015. As for which movie title best describes their feelings about the stock market, 34 percent of the survey’s respondents selected Dazed and Confused. The cult classic was followed by Easy Rider, Pulp Fiction, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Apocalypse Now.

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