According to the latest survey from the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII), bullish sentiment among individual investors is on the decline due to rising inflation. This is the second consecutive week of decreasing optimism, with only 43.4% of respondents expressing a positive outlook for the stock market’s short-term performance. This is down from 47.3% and 50% in the previous two weeks. Conversely, bearish sentiment has increased to 24%, while neutral sentiment has also risen to 32.5%.

The recent consumer inflation report has further dampened hopes for near-term Federal Reserve rate cuts, as it exceeded economists’ expectations with a 0.4% increase in March. According to analyst James Kostohryz, unless there are major disruptions such as a war or oil supply crisis, there is little justification for rate cuts before October 2024. However, President Joe Biden maintains his prediction of rate cuts by the end of this year.

Despite recent declines, market futures for the Nasdaq, S&P, and Dow edged higher on Thursday. The S&P 500 (SP500) saw a 1% decrease over the past week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) declined by over 1% and the NASDAQ Composite Index dropped 0.6%. The NASDAQ 100 Index also experienced a decline of 0.8%.

In the cryptocurrency and commodities markets, Bitcoin USD (BTC-USD) has risen by 4% since last Thursday, while Gold has increased by nearly 3%. On Tuesday, Gold futures reached another record high settlement before experiencing a slight pullback on Wednesday.

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