Barron’s (January 2)
“If last year was full of fireworks that ultimately resulted in another big gain for the stock market, 2026 appears set to be a dud. Looking back at 2025, the fact that the S&P 500 index gained 16% feels like a small miracle. The Donald Trump experience has led to wild swings—who can forget the near bear-market in April after the president announced the first iteration of tariffs?” Looking ahead, “we’d expect a relatively flat year, with the S&P 500 finishing down about 2%.”
Tags: 16%, 2%, 2025, 2026, April, Bear market, Big gain, Dud, Fireworks, Flat, S&P 500, Stock market, Tariffs, Trump
Barron’s (May 12)
“The Nasdaq Composite entered a new bull market on Monday as the stock market surged after the U.S. and China agreed to ease back tariffs for 90 days. The tech-heavy index rallied 4.4%, closing more than 20% above its April 8 low to exit the bear market that began on April 4.” That wasn’t the only good news. “The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,161 points, or 2.8%, closing more than 10% above its April 8 low to exit a technical correction. The S&P 500 rallied 3.3%.”
Tags: Bear market, Bull market, China, Dow Jones, Ease, Nasdaq, Rallied, S&P 500, Stocks, Surged, Tariffs, Tech-heavy, Technical correction, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (April 28)
“The Magnificent Seven drove the stock market’s bull run. Now, their bruising losses pose a new test for markets.” Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla “helped fuel a gangbusters rally that lifted stocks out of the 2022 bear market and toward dozens of all-time highs,” with their shares reaching “eye-popping levels.” Now, however, “the Magnificent Seven are off to their worst start to a year since the 2022 slide,” with each stock falling over 6.5%, collectively destroying “$2.5 trillion in market value.”
Tags: $2.5 trillion, 2022, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Bear market, Bruising, Bull run, Eye-popping, Gangbusters, Losses, Magnificent Seven, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Rally, Stock market, Tesla, Value
Motley Fool (January 21)
“While Wall Street has been given plenty of reason to be excited about President Donald Trump’s second term, he’s also making ominous stock market history—and it should have investors concerned.” Prior to his inauguration, the S&P 500’s Shiller P/E was at 38.11, marking “the highest reading for an incoming president dating back to January 1871,” the earliest comparable data point. During that same 154-year timeframe, the average Shiller P/E was 17.19. “Inheriting one of the priciest stock markets in history might pave the way for a bear market or short-lived crash during his second term.”
Tags: 1871, Bear market, Crash, Inauguration, Investors, Ominous, Priciest, S&P 500, Second term, Shiller P/E, Stock market, Trump
Bloomberg (April 1)
“Rarely has the consensus been more uniformly bearish than it is now. Investors are sitting with the lowest allocation to US stocks in almost two decades.” But this extreme is creating a phenomena not seen “during any bear market in the past four decades.” Since “everyone’s leaning one way, big swings are apt to break out in the other…. Small gains can snowball when the worry is missing out on the next big rally.” As a result, “the S&P 500 just finished the first three months of the year up 7%, rounding out back-to-back quarterly gains.”
Tags: Allocation, Bear market, Bearish, Big swings, Consensus, Extreme, Investors, Rally, S&P 500, Small gains, Snowball, Stocks, U.S.
MarketWatch (May 15)
“A big bounce for stocks on Friday still leaves the main U.S. stock market benchmark close to entering a bear market as investors fret over the Federal Reserve’s ability to get a grip on inflation without sinking the economy stokes fears of stagflation — a pernicious combination of slow economic growth and persistent inflation.”
Markets Insider (April 7)
Investors are punishing transportation stocks “in the face of sky-high fuel prices and slowing growth.” Since hitting a November high, the Dow Jones Transportation Average has fallen 20%, “the technical definition of a bear market.” Often seen as “a bellwether for the health of the underlying economy, the index is comprised of “transportation stocks, from logistics companies such as FedEx and UPS, airlines, to railroad operators like Union Pacific.”
Tags: Airlines, Bear market, Bellwether, Dow Jones, Economy, FedEx, Fuel prices, Investors, Logistics, Punishing, Railroad, Sky-high, Slowing growth, Stocks, Transportation, UPS
Market Watch (July 31)
“Both Facebook and Netflix saw their shares fall into bear-market territory on Monday, defined by a decline of at least 20% from a recent peak, and nearly 40% of the S&P 500’s technology sector is in correction territory.” Some say there’s been a seismic shift, but “it remains to be seen if the recent moves represent a sea change for a reemergence for value, which has been overshadowed by growth plays, or if moves of the past few days are a blip.”
Tags: Bear market, Correction, Facebook, Growth Blip, Netflix, S&P 500, Shares, Technology sector, Value
