It has been a little over a year since the S&P 500 Index bottomed on March 23, 2020, and it was certainly an eventful year, to say the least. It’s also been one year since we at LPL Research upgraded our view on equities from market weight to overweight in Road to Recovery Playbook Update believing there had been a shift in the risk-reward dynamic between stocks and bonds.

It certainly was not an easy call, and it was made with the S&P 500 rallying roughly 15% from its low. Little did we know however, that the S&P 500 would stage the greatest one year rally in history. As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, the r

There is a growing debate over whether an expanding economy, in conjunction with historic fiscal and monetary stimulus, may cause inflation to overheat. Adding to the intense debate, the Federal Reserve (Fed) has shifted its policy framework, potentially allowing inflation to run a little hotter than it has in the past. Despite vocal calls for runaway inflation, we believe that any uptick in inflation will ultimately prove transitory due to slack in the labor market and other structural forces.

What’s Driving the Inflation Debate

Concerns over an inflation scare are rising as investors question whether an accelerating

A year ago this week the stock market bottomed and thus ended one of the most vicious bear markets of all-time. In our recent Market Signals video, LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick and Equity Strategist Jeff Buchbinder discuss what could be in store for stocks in year two of the bull market, along with a discussion of rates and the latest Fed meeting. Key topics looked at in this week’s conversation include:

• What year two of the bull market could bring

• Examine the recent Federal Reserve Meeting

• A review of the LPL Research teams busted NCAA brackets

• Yields surge again

It has now been a little over a year since the first COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns were implemented in the United States, with California having implemented the first stay-at-home order on March 19, 2020. LPL Research can now use high-frequency data to compare where we are now to the early days of the pandemic.

“Much of the real-time data is showing huge improvements from where we were a year ago as U.S. consumers are venturing back out to restaurants, theaters and airports,” said LPL Financial Equity Strategist Jeff Buchbinder.” While most data is still well below pre-pandemic levels, the mostly successfu