The S&P 500 broke the 5,000 level recently for the first time in history as investors embraced euphoria and rallied. (1) And then tumbled as investors got jittery. (2) Then yo-yo'd a bit more.
What’s going on?
Let’s talk about investor psychology.
Fear and greed are the two halves of the investor psychology coin.
It's official. The bear market is behind us.
The S&P 500 finally hit a new record for the first time since 2022. And then notched multiple higher highs in the days that followed. (1)
That means it has passed the final bar to formalize the bull market in stocks that started after the October 2022 market low. (2)
What’s a bull market?
Big question: how’s the economy doing?
With the year more than half over and markets on a spree, it's an important question to consider.
Let’s dig into the latest data and find out.
Inflation continues its downward spiral.
The latest data for June shows that inflation fell for the 12th month in a row to an annual rate of 3%.¹
That's a significant improvement from June of last year when inflation soared to 9.1%.
It also puts the Federal Reserve in the difficult position of deciding whether or not to raise rates again after pausing in June.
