New source of inspiration needed for bull market to continue its fine run

HOLD the ticker-tape parade for the bull market's 10-year anniversary.

US stocks fell last week as hopes of a grand bargain between the United States and China faded and the clearest signs yet of a global economic slowdown appeared in jobs data and central bank actions. High stakes games of "deal or no deal" on Chinese trade and Brexit may perpetuate the volatility this week, which marks a decade since the broad Standard & Poor's 500 started a run that has seen it near quintupling in value.

The closest shave with death for the bull market came in December. The big fear that drove the near-bear market selloff was that the damage to economic growth from tariffs would be done before China and the US ended their trade war. Last week, the Labor Department reported one of the weakest monthly performances of the jobs market since the economic expansion began a decade ago. A mere 20,000 workers were added to US payrolls in February. Some economists said the statistics were not a sign that employers had fewer jobs to offer, but rather an indication that they were having trouble finding workers to fill them. This theory of a "tight labour market" was corroborated, to some extent, by a sharp increase in average hourly wages.