The Stock Market Has Been Dead Flat Since January 1

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.

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And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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