It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and for investors in America’s stockmarket that is saying something. They have had a marvellous 2024, as share prices that had already soared in 2023 just kept on going. The S&P 500 index of large firms is now 54% higher than it was two years ago, a winning streak it has bettered just a handful of times since its inception in 1957. To be sure, there have been jitters along the way. The most recent came on December 18th, when share prices fell by 3% in a single day after the Federal Reserve predicted it would cut rates by less than the market expected in 2025. Yet share prices have recovered a little since and the mood is still upbeat. Stockmarkets elsewhere in the world have also raced higher; America’s has left them in the dust.
