Insatiable Stock Bulls Demand More of Rally Running on Euphoria
- Paying up for protection makes sense, says Baird’s Mayfield
- JPMorgan recommends investors add hedges through options
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It’s just a quarter of the way through 2021 and stocks have already leaped past Wall Street’s year-end forecasts. They’ve jumped 10% and priced in so much optimism that it will take two more years for earnings to catch up.
Is that enough for bulls? Nope. In a market that has plowed through records once every five days, the only things expanding faster than valuations are investor expectations. At Citigroup, an indicator that compares levels of panic to euphoria in the market has been pinned on elation all year, while a Bank of America model weighing optimism among sell-side analysts sits at a 10-year high.