During the first few weeks of the new year, the S&P 500 has lost 1.92 percent, and that is thanks to a nice rally on Friday. Prior to the gains on Friday, the index was down 3.22 percent through the first 10 trading days of the year, the worst start to a year since 2009.

Despite the downside pressure on the market, the AAII Sentiment Survey and the CBOE put/call ratio both moved toward a more bullish stance.

The sentiment survey saw the bullish percentage jump from 41 percent to 46.1 percent, while the bearish percentage fell from 27.7 percent to 21.5 percent. The combination of the two put the ratio of bulls to bears at 2.14, up from 1.48 the previous week.

The 21-day moving average on the CBOE Equity Put/Call ratio fell from 0.6538 to 0.6419 last week. While that isn't a huge decline, it is still a decline that indicates a more bullish stance from option traders.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was the only one of the three main sentiment indicators I monitor closely to move toward a more bearish stance.

The VIX moved up 19.37 percent last week and closed the week above the 20 level for the second time in the last six weeks.

This is the fourth week in the last four months where the indicator has closed above 20. Prior to these recent closes above 20, the indicator went a year and nine months without closing above that mark.