Market Commentary April 2019

Not a lot of confetti rained down on the 10-year-old bull market celebration last month, which got underway in March 2009. Some investors argue that being unloved is what has kept this bull going. Coming out of the worst recession since the Great Depression, the bull market was distrusted from day one and, even after 10 years, has never lacked for doubters. Subpar GDP growth has accompanied the bull and perhaps been echoed in several slow-grind stock years. Indeed, several times, the bull came uncomfortably close to bear territory; the most notable selloffs occurred in August 2011, February 2016 and December 2018. So many stocks were in bear territory that the bull’s whisker-thin avoidance is almost beside the point. Some investors therefore argue that the 10-year bull market is really a chain of shorter bulls and that the “real” bull market is barely out of short trousers.