Current Events > S&P 500 closes at all-time high; fastest-ever bear market recovery

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The S&P 500 closed at its highest level ever Tuesday, capping a remarkable rebound fueled by unprecedented government stimulus and optimism among investors about the worlds ability to manage the coronavirus pandemic.

The benchmark U.S. stock index surpassed its prior record of 3386.15 from Feb. 19, erasing a historic plunge during February and March that ended the longest-running bull market in history. The S&P 500 is now up about 5% this year.

The whole chapter, from peak to peak, spanned just 126 trading days and marks the indexs fastest-ever recovery from a bear market. The record also ends a week of anticipation for analysts and investors who had watched the S&P 500 cross the milestone several times in intraday trading only to pull back.

Shares of everything from big technology companies to beaten-down energy stocks have rebounded sharply from their troughs. Amazon.com Inc. shares have extended their gains for the year to nearly 80%, while Halliburton Co. has more than tripled from its March low and cut its 2020 losses to roughly 33%. Clorox Co. has been among the winners of the pandemic, climbing nearly 50% this year.

The stock markets turnaround reflects investors bets on a pickup next year in corporate earnings and economic activity. But many are struggling to reconcile the gains with the continuing health crisis that has killed more than 170,000 people in the U.S. alone, sent unemployment to the highest level since the Great Depression and spoiled the longest-ever economic expansion.

Theres a feeling of euphoria in the marketplace that youre going to make money, said Steven Wagner, chief executive of Omnia Family Wealth, of his interactions with investors in recent weeks. But theyre also bewildered by the disconnect [with the economy] and what they see in their businesses, their lives and what stock prices are doing.

Setting a new record milestone in 2020 once seemed improbable to many investors. The S&P 500 dropped 34% from its February high to its March low as the pandemic brought economies around the world to a virtual standstill. The subsequent rebound has been nearly as swift.
Investors of all stripes have flooded into the stock market since the government intervened to shore up the economy. Institutional money managers who vow never to bet against the Federal Reserve continued buying stocks after the central bank slashed interest rates to near zero and moved to stabilize credit markets. And zero-commission trading apps lured day traders into the market at the fastest pace since the heyday of the dot-com investing era.

The Feds intervention, in the process, pushed bond yields toward their lowest levels ever. Left with few other attractive options for returns in this environment, many investors say they saw little choice but to continue betting on stocks or risk missing out on the rally. The problem has been so common in recent years that it has its own acronym: TINA, or There Is No Alternative to Stocks.

Those dynamics have helped push the S&P 500 up more than 50% from its nadir in March, led by sharp gains among the markets biggest companies. The technology giants that make up a disproportionate share of the index have benefited from lockdown measures that have accelerated the adoption of networking, communications and online-shopping services.

Apple Inc. has risen more than 55% so far this year and is nearing a $2 trillion market value, while Microsoft Corp. has jumped by a third. Together with Amazon, Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc., the companies comprise about 25% of the S&P 500. That gives them considerable influence over the direction of the market.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-s-p-500-sets-first-record-since-february-erasing-its-coronavirus-plunge-11597781130?mod=hp_lead_pos1

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must be why crypto had a slight boost

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trump did it again