On Thursday, small investors were actually net buyers of $2.3 million worth of stock, it said.

Through the end of August those small investors were net buyers on 108 days.

If the trend continues, they will become net buyers of stocks for the first time in a decade.

Investors are considered net buyers when they purchase more than they sell.

By some measures, individual investors have been net buyers of stocks this year for the first time in decades.

That philosophy has been turned on its head, with central banks turning net buyers in 2010 for the first time in 21 years.

But foreign investors were net buyers of securities on that day.

As a group, he said, Fidelity was a net buyer of such bonds in the quarter.

"This year, that odd-lotter has been a net buyer more than 50 percent of the time."

He also looked at the share of the population in the 40-to-64 age group - people who tend to be net buyers of stocks.