Bears Are Going Extinct

Mal Langsdon

Bears are going extinct.

A Barron's survey (Via @cavandy) of market strategists finds that nobody thinks markets will go down.

Here's the key paragraph:

None of the group, whom we survey each September and December, is bearish these days, although some strategists have toned down their optimism because of the market's gains. Still, the most bullish see the benchmark barreling toward 2500 in the next 18 to 24 months. That would be an increase of nearly 25% from last week's close.

The Barron's survey echoes another data point from earlier this week. A survey of newsletter market pundits from Investors Intelligence found that bears are "evaporating."

This chart shows that among pundits, the percentage of bears is at a 27-year low.

This might cause your contrarian alarm bells to kick in, though while bears are going extinct, it doesn't necessarily follow that there's euphoria. There's still a deep-seated skepticism about the economy, the Fed, and the market. So while the lack of bears is concerning, it's only part of the story.