By just about any measure, 2024 has been a tumultuous year.
Violent conflicts continue to rage on abroad as political turmoil has come to a rolling boil domestically. While market watchers had expected inflation to significantly cool, prices have largely continued to rise. In turn, the Federal Reserve has maintained relatively high interest rates, despite predictions of six or seven cuts headed into the year.
None of that sounds like it should bode very well for stocks, but the S&P 500, a measure of the broad U.S. stock market, has returned about 16% so far in 2024.
“Even the biggest optimist wouldn’t have thought we’d have the best start to an election year since 1976. This has been even the bull’s dream of a year,” says Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at the Carson Group. “The good news is that we do think there’s still some juice left.”
Here’s why market watchers believe the current bull market isn’t done running — and what it …