No. of Recommendations: 16
This must be an indication of something, not quite sure what. Extended Market (total US market ex sp500) is up 10% which is even more evidence of broadening since these are all mid cap and small cap. A bit more to consider: revenge of the retail traders.
From a recent article at the FT:
The share of US households that own stocks has surged this decade to nearly 60 per cent...
Americans are all in on the market, holding more wealth in stocks than in their homes for the first time...
Retail’s share of daily trading in US stocks doubled in the past 15 years to 36 per cent, surpassing that of big banks or hedge funds...
Last year US retail trading topped $5tn, exceeding the pandemic high... So far in 2026 they have remained net buyers on most days....and perhaps most surprisingly for the traditional dumb money:
According to Empirical Research Partners, retail investors have “trounced the professionals” by going double overweight on the “most controversial” momentum plays including, for example, those that have seen “supernova” price rises. Their favourites include precious metals and above all AI stocks. Last year, retail investors beat the S&P 500 by a solid 10 percentage points. They finish up:
Still, markets cannot keep going up forever. The mania for AI-led momentum stocks will cool some day. An inflationary shock or the challenge of mounting government debts could eventually slow or reverse the endless flow of liquidity, and even restrain the next bailout. When that happens, it will shake the confidence of the retail crowd and turn these confident buyers into aggressive sellers.Financial Times: Content Ee8a0604 84cb 44da bb33 f36818944581As an interesting example, the silver bullion ETF dollar trading volume matched the trading volume for SPY on one recent day.
Jim
