I spoke to a group of investors about buying high quality companies like NVS, DVN, (KMB, CLX too expensive), and Goog but was booed off the stage. This is only one indicator–and a very volatile one at that–but the 22% bullish number is about the lowest reading for the past few years. The last time the bullish readings were near 20% was February 19th and March 5th 2009 during the depths of Hell.  Fiscal Cliff, sub-4% money growth, European Crisis and the political news are wearing on the little (and big) guy (gal). Be careful but greedy.

AAII Sentiment Index

For 25 years of historical AAII Sentiment Data:AII Sentiment

The AAII Investor Sentiment Survey measures the percentage of individual investors who are bullish, bearish, and neutral on the stock market for the next six months; individuals are polled from the ranks of the AAII membership on a weekly basis. Only one vote per member is accepted in each weekly voting period.
Survey Results
Sentiment Survey ResultsWeek ending 7/18/2012    Data represents what direction members feel the stock market will be in the next 6    months.
Bullish	22.2% down 8
Neutral	36.0% up 1
Bearish	41.8% up 7.1
Note: Numbers may not add up to 100% because of rounding. Change from last week:Bullish: -8.0 Neutral: +1.0 Bearish: +7.1 Long-Term Average:Bullish: 39% Neutral: 31% Bearish: 30% Sentiment Survey Past Results Reported Date Bullish Neutral Bearish July 19: 22.19% 36.02% 41.79% July 12: 30.23% 35.05% 34.73% July 5: 32.64% 34.03% 33.33% June 28: 28.67% 26.96% 44.37% June 21: 32.89% 31.23% 35.88% June 14: 34.04% 30.18% 35.79% June 7: 27.45% 26.80% 45.75% May 31: 28.02% 29.96% 42.02% May 24: 30.47% 30.86% 38.67% May 17: 23.58% 30.45% 45.97% May 10: 25.40% 32.54% 42.06% May 3: 35.40% 36.13% 28.47% April 26: 27.64% 34.96% 37.40% April 19: 31.18% 34.98% 33.84% April 12: 28.14% 30.30% 41.56% April 5: 38.17% 34.02% 27.80% March 29: 42.47% 32.05% 25.48% March 22: 42.38% 29.80% 27.81% March 15: 45.61% 27.20% 27.20% March 8: 42.38% 28.62% 29.00% March 1: 44.51% 28.66% 26.83% February 23: 43.69% 28.80% 27.51