For a hot second there, we all thought 2025 was going to be fairly cruisy. The continuation of a strong bull-run, the end to recession fears, a couple of rate cuts. The biggest concern was perhaps the high premiums on stocks like the Magnificent Seven.

Stunning to watch the precipitous decline in the closely tracked American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) Investor Sentiment Survey. The February 26 print of 19.4% marks a significant downward move from the prior week (29.2%), suggesting a give-up in investor confidence is underway.

Hunting for breakout mid-caps? We put 5 high-potential ASX ex-20 stocks under the microscope with two top small and mid-cap fundies.