This week's AAII Sentiment Survey showed bulls at 28%, bears at 28% and the number of investors who are neutral at 44%. The number of bears has been below its historical average of 30.5% for all but two of the past 15 weeks.

But the high neutral reading seems to be canceling out the low bearish readings. Remember that the AAII Sentiment Survey is a contrarian indicator, so low bearish numbers should be bullish for stocks. But the persistently high neutral reading is another indication of investors' lack of confidence, which reduces the momentum needed for a genuine breakout