The AAII (American Association of Individual Investors) sentiment survey showed dramatic changes last week.

The bullish percentage dropped from 44.2 percent to 35.5 percent while the bearish percentage jumped from 22.4 percent to 32.4 percent.

This put the ratio of bulls to bears at 1.1, down from 1.97 the previous week and it puts the ratio at its lowest reading since August 7 of last year.

To put things into perspective for you, as stocks were recovering from the September/December decline, the ratio hit 3.49 during the first week of November.

The weekly numbers can change dramatically based on what the market is doing, but if you look at a four-week moving average, that tends to smooth out the weekly knee-jerk reactions.

The recent high in the four-week moving average occurred during the week of November 26, just ahead of the sharp decline in early December.

Prior to that stretch, you would have to go back to mid-September to see the moving average over 2.0 and that came just ahead of the sharp decline in stocks from mid-September through mid-October.

Right now, the four-week moving average is at 1.60 and that is the lowest it has been since October.

The recent volatility is obviously taking a toll on investor sentiment.