New York Times (January 9)
“Saudi Arabia is throwing open its doors to global investors.” From February, all overseas investors “will be allowed to buy and sell shares directly in 262 listed companies.” The question is whether they will want to. “The Tadawul All Share Index is down over the past year, vastly underperforming both the S&P 500 and major global stock indexes.” It is “the Gulf region’s biggest and worst-performing stock exchange,”
Tags: Buy, Global investors, Gulf region, Index, Overseas investors, S&P 500, Saudi Arabia, Sell, Shares, Stock exchange, Tadawul, Underperforming, Worst-performing
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
Bloomberg (December 12)
“AI is powering Trump’s economy, but American voters are getting worried.” The Wall Street consensus is “that AI has driven most of the gains on the S&P 500 this year” so that may make AI look like a hero. Among voters, however, there are “signs of an AI backlash, one that could amplify concerns about the cost of living and the job-market outlook in Trump’s economy.” Data center projects are increasingly being “blocked or delayed by local opposition” and roughly $98 billion in investment was “stymied in the second quarter, more than the total for all previous quarters since 2023.”
Tags: AI, Backlash, Blocked, Consensus, Cost of living, Data centers, Delayed, Economy, Gains, Investment, Job market, Opposition, Outlook, S&P 500, Trump, Voters, Wall Street, Worried
Fortune (December 11)
“For all the volatility 2025 has endured, things have actually turned out relatively well: The S&P 500 is up by more than 17%, inflation hasn’t spiked despite an onslaught of tariffs, and the unemployment rate has stayed fairly steady. Analysts and investors are generally feeling positive about 2026 as a result.” This may be overlooking signs of weakness. “Beneath the relatively robust macroeconomic picture, cracks are beginning to show.”
Tags: 17%, 2025, 2026, Analysts, Endured, Inflation, Investors, Macroeconomic, Overlooking, Positive, S&P 500, Steady, Tariffs, Unemployment, Volatility, Weakness
Wall Street Journal (November 23)
“Fear of bursting investment bubbles. Concern the economy is slowing. Pressure on investors to cash in profits. These forces are colliding in markets, leading to the sharpest intraday swings for stocks in months and leaving investors bracing for more.” Already, the S&P 500 is down 3.5% in November.” Not to be outdone, the “Nasdaq composite has slid more than 6%” during the same period.”
Tags: Bubbles, Bursting, Cash, Colliding, Concern, Economy, Fear, Intraday swings, Investment, Investors, Markets, Nasdaq, November, Pressure, Profits, S&P 500, Stocks
Reuters (November 4)
“Fears of a market bubble come as the benchmark S&P 500 continues its meteoric climb, repeatedly hitting record highs and evoking memories of the dot-com boom.” And on Tuesday, the chief executives of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs warned that “global equity markets could be heading towards a correction, underscoring a growing concern that investor optimism has driven valuations to sky-high levels.”
Tags: Boom, Concern, Correction, Dot-com, Equity markets, Executives, Fears, Goldman Sachs, Investor optimism, Market bubble, Meteoric, Morgan Stanley, Record highs, S&P 500, Valuations
Barron’s (October 1)
“Like the Y2K disaster or the widespread invasion of murder hornets, the highly anticipated September curse failed to materialize this year. The question is whether or not a rough patch has been avoided or simply delayed. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite recorded their best Septembers since 2010.” Still, some analysts and investors worry that the issues that worried them “before haven’t been resolved, even as investor complacency seems to suggest that they have been.”
Tags: 2010, Analysts, Avoided, Delayed, Highly anticipated, Invasion, Investors, Materialize, Nasdaq, Rough patch, S&P 500, September curse, Worry, Y2K disaster
Investment Week (September 12)
“Over the summer, the FTSE 100, S&P 500, Nasdaq and Japan’s main equity indices enjoyed record highs. Usually, you would think that this was great news…. But, instead, investors are pouring out of funds, as the background noise ratchets up ever higher.” Investor confidence has tumbled “across all global markets, with the biggest hit coming in North America.”
Tags: Confidence, Equity indices, FTSE 100, Funds, Global markets, Investors, Japan, Nasdaq, Noise, North America, S&P 500, Tumbled
Barron’s (July 19)
“This market risk is a slow-motion wreck waiting to happen.” And yet the U.S. market remains sanguine, largely tuning “out the past week’s tariff drama.” Freya Beamish, Chief Economist at TS Lombard, is “cautioning investors against complacency because multiple ‘low-grade shocks’ can take their toll like that of a frog in boiling water.” The impact of tariffs, deportations and “the series of low-grade shocks the market is struggling to digest” will eventually appear and “investors may be underestimating their impact on inflation.”
Tags: $4 to $5 billion, Carmaker, Demand, Fell, GM, Quarterly results, S&P 500, Stock, Tariff costs, Worries
Fortune (July 1)
“Consumer spending is weakening. The job market is getting worse for workers. And U.S. stock investors are loving it. The S&P 500 rose 0.52% yesterday, hitting an all-time high for the second day in a row.” The surging market suggests “investors don’t anticipate anything dramatic like a mass selloff.” Their optimism seems to be pinned on hopes that “the deteriorating macro picture” will convince the Federal Reserve to “cut interest rates sooner rather than later. And cheap money is usually good for stocks.”
Tags: All-time high, Consumer spending, Fed, Investors, Job market, Mass selloff, Optimism, S&P 500, Stocks, Surging, U.S., Weakening, Workers
