It is often said that actions speak louder than words, and for investors, there seems to be quite a divergence. By many sentiment measures, investors are indicating that they are bullish on stocks.  The American Association of individual Investors (AAII) weekly sentiment survey shows bullish investor sentiment equals 51.3%, above the average plus one standard deviation level of 47.7%.Sentiment measures like these are viewed as contrarian ones and with this heightened level of bullishness, a market pullback, even if shallow and short-lived, have a tendency to occur. Another sentiment measure, the CNNBusiness’ Fear & Greed Index, is indicating sentiment is in the Greed range.With investors’ expressing bullishness, their actions seem to be contrary to this though. On a total return basis, the S&P 500 Index is up 24.9% year to date though this past Friday. In spite of the strong equity return investor flows into equity mutual funds and ETFs have been negative this year. On a year-to-date basis, the combined equity outflows from U.S. and International equities total $165.9 billion. Bonds on the other hand, while mostly generating a positive but lower return, have seen inflows of $160.6 billion. Since the beginning of November, the upward-sloping maroon line in the below chart signifies that U.S. equity flows have turned positive.Clearly, the equity market has recovered nicely in 2024 after a poor year in 2022.With the strong return this year, and with some technical indicators indicating an overbought equity market, a pullback would not be surprising. One potential cushion that might dampen the extent of a pullback is the level of cash on the sidelines. As the below chart shows, money market mutual fund cash equals a record $5.9 trillion. Money market cash for both institutional and retail investors is up significantly since the 2020 recession. In a pullback, some of this cash might find its way into stocks.With investors expressing a high level of bullishness, this contrarian indicator would be one that suggests near-term equity market caution. However, mutual fund flows and money market levels, that is, investors’ actual actions, suggest the opposite. With the end of the year fast approaching and a potential Santa Claus rally nearing, maybe positive equity returns do continue for investors.More By This Author:Market Expectations To Year End And Into 2024Keeping An Eye On The Unemployment Rate As A Recession Signal Investors Shun Dividend Paying Stocks