Now would be a good time for investors to curb their enthusiasm, just a little. This year has begun with the bulls largely in control. Already, US stocks have risen about 4 per cent, making this one of the stronger opening months to any year in the past decade.
The re-inauguration of Donald Trump as US president has ushered in a new period of “animal spirits” among business executives, as veteran investor Stan Druckenmiller put it this week. Chief executives are “somewhere between relieved and giddy” at the election result, he told CNBC. Meanwhile, US banks are in “go-mode”, a senior JPMorgan executive told the Davos crowd, while crypto is on the cusp of entering the “banana zone”, according to its boosters. (Nope, me neither. Apparently that’s good, though, indicating prices are about to surge.)
HSBC is sticking with the good vibes. Its multi-asset team this week outlined an “extremely positive” backdrop for risky assets in the first half of this year — a scenario it described as “Goldilocks on steroids”, quite the mental image.