The Business Times
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Stock markets are booming. But the good times are unlikely to last

Although AI is propelling valuations, there are deeper forces at work

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Published Mon, Feb 26, 2024 · 06:35 PM
    • Despite middling economic growth and the Covid-19 pandemic, stock markets have offered annual returns, after inflation, of more than 8 per cent a year since 2010, including dividends and capital gains.
    • Despite middling economic growth and the Covid-19 pandemic, stock markets have offered annual returns, after inflation, of more than 8 per cent a year since 2010, including dividends and capital gains. PHOTO: PEXELS

    EVERYWHERE you look, stock markets are breaking records.

    American equities, as measured by the S&P 500 index, hit their first all-time high in more than two years in January, surged above 5,000 points in February, and roared well above that level on Feb 22 when Nvidia, a maker of hardware essential for artificial intelligence (AI), released spectacular results.

    The same day, Europe’s Stoxx 600 set its own record. Even before Nvidia’s results had been announced, Japan’s Nikkei 225 had surpassed its previous best, set in 1989. Little surprise, then, that a widely watched global stock market index – the MSCI World Index – recently hit an all-time high, too.

    Stock MarketsGlobal equitiesArtificial IntelligenceFinancial markets

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