The American Association of Individual Investors reported investor bullish sentiment increased as of the period ending November 26, 2008. The bullishness level improved to 31.25% versus last week's level of 24.37%. The bull/bear spread narrowed to -14% versus -33% last week.

For the last few weeks I had not looked at the individual investor sentiment reading from the American Association of Individual Investors. I was surprised to see that the bullish sentiment reading was not at a lower level, i.e., like in the 20% range.

There is no shortage of investor sentiment surveys out there. But this one by Ronald Domingues returns a 65% success rate.

AAII and II sentiment numbers continue to show bearishness among market participants. Whether its the media and/or consumer sentiment, market participants are feeling the same way about the market. AAII saw Bulls at 30.37% and Bears at 48.69%. While II saw Bulls at 37.8% and Bears at 38.9%.

Consider the latest readings of the Hulbert Stock Newsletter Sentiment Index (HSNSI), which reflects the average recommended stock market exposure among a subset of several dozen short-term market timing newsletters tracked by the Hulbert Financial Digest.