The stock market’s benchmark index, the S&P 500, has rallied by more than 20% so far this year and is currently posting its “biggest gain since 1997” even amid soaring geopolitical tensions and growing concerns of a potential financial crisis.
According to the economics outlet Kobeissi Letter on the microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), the S&P 500 has nearly doubled the 11.7% increase it saw last year and its third-best performance since 1990, while also recording its “best start to a presidential election year in history.”
All of this has meant that last week the index hit its “hit its 43rd all-time high this year, the best streak since 70 new records in 2021” and that since October of last year, when it hit a low amid an ongoing correction, it’s up by 40%.
BREAKING: The S&P 500 rallied 20.8% in the first 3 quarters of 2024, posting its biggest gain since 1997.This is nearly DOUBLE the 11.7% increase seen last year and the third-best performance since 1990.The index also recorded the best start to a presidential election year in… pic.twitter.com/dhddfHKOrV
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) October 3, 2024
This has led the economics outlet to concluce that the current market “feels unstoppable.” The rise comes at a time in which investors are also increasingly turning to safe haven assets like gold, with exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focusing on the precious metal and its miners seeing $3.3 billion of inflows since August.
This ‘historically high demand’ has meant gold is on track to have its best annual return since 1979, as it’s currently up 28% year-to-date to now trade at $2,645 per ounce. One year ago, the precious metal was at little over $1,800.
The price of the precious metal is surging at a time in which the total money supply in the United States, the Eurozone, Japan, and China has for the first time in history reached $89.7 trillion, having skyrocketed by a whopping $7.3 trillion over the past year.
Gold’s latest rise came after Iran fired around 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in what Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said was a retaliation for the assassinations of Hamas’s political leader and an Iranian commander.
Notably, Societe Generale has shifted 100% of its commodity allocation to gold, driven by geopolitical risks and a weakening broader commodity market.
The French bank increased its gold holdings to 7% of its total asset allocation, reflecting a 40% quarter-over-quarter rise. This pivot toward gold signals growing confidence in the yellow metal as a safe-haven asset amid ongoing uncertainties in global markets.
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