I can’t be the only parent of college-age kids who routinely texts them, “Have fun. Not too much.”
This roughly captures the recent market moment. Investors have loosened up and are deservedly enjoying the resounding six-week market comeback — which takes them ever closer to the hard-to-discern line between harmless fun and reckless indulgence.
Bursting from a position of extreme fear and torrid liquidation culminating on April 7, at the point of maximum tariff aggression, the indexes have responded as if the waterfall near-20% sell-off from February’s peak severely overshot fundamental reality.
From technical conditions that were “so bad they’re good” after one of the worst starts ever to a year, the S&P 500 has gained 23% from the intraday low, burning up plenty of the accumulated pessimism as fuel and reclaiming the benefit of the doubt for the bulls.
The rally has capitalized on clear Trump administration gestures toward trade-war de-escalation, culminating in the retreat last weekend on China tariffs, with the S&P back into the green for the year and just above the spot where it closed the day after the November election.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/17/sp-500-rips-higher-by-more-than-20percent-as-animal-spirits-awaken-in-six-week-market-comeback.html