While 39% of Canadian advisors believe that the S&P/TSX 60 will perform well during the third quarter of 2015, only 29% of investors say they are bullish.

The most recent Advisor and Investor Sentiment Survey published by Horizons ETFs shows that most advisors and investors are pessimistic about how Canadian equity markets will perform over the next three months. The survey asked respondents to indicate whether they were bullish, bearish, or neutral about 13 different asset classes for the upcoming quarter. Horizons notes that advisors were slightly bullish on three of the asset classes, while investors were bearish on every asset class and index.

The survey revealed that there was a 15% drop in the number of advisors who said they were bullish on the S&P/TSX 60 Index, decreasing to 39% from the 54% recorded in the second quarter of 2015. Canadian investors were even less sanguine about the domestic stock market with just 29% expressing bullish sentiments for the S&P/TSX 60 Index, down from the 42% who said they were confident during the previous three months.

“Instability in China and Greece have dampened the optimism for the Canadian market we would normally see; the Canadian economy is heavily reliant on Chinese demand for oil, and without that rising, investors will remain overly cautious,” comments Howard Atkinson, President of Horizons ETFs. “Advisors as usual are more bullish than investors due to their ability to tune out negative news headlines and stay focused on longer-term trends.”