The Stock Market Has Been Dead Flat Since January 1

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Monika Bauerlein,
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Every once in a while I like to adjust the S&P 500 for inflation just to see what it looks like. It’s something that more people ought to do regularly, since it’s the only way to properly represent a time series of money values. Anyway, I did it today because the stock market is in the news, and here’s what it looks like:

Adjusted for inflation, the S&P 500 is at precisely the same value as the first day of January. It has increased 0 percent.

I just thought that was interesting enough to make a chart of it and show it to everyone. As always, this might mean the market has peaked and is getting ready to turn bearish for a while. Or it might mean that equities are now a relative bargain and the next year could be a strong one. I don’t know! If I did, I’d be a billionaire and I wouldn’t be writing this blog.