Birinyi Bullish as Bears With Deja Vu Can’t Wait to Sell

U.S. stock investors, battered by losses in May for two straight years, have never been so sure that history will repeat itself, a sign to Birinyi Associates Inc. that it’s time to buy.

Equity mutual funds tracked by the Investment Company Institute recorded $16 billion of outflows with less than a week to go last month, on pace for the worst April since at least 1984. More than 34 percent of forecasters surveyed by Investors Intelligence said stocks will fall 10 percent, the highest proportion at this time of year since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 1989. Options that protect against losses in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index traded at the most expensive level in five years.