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Why are stocks continuing to go crazy in an upward direction on "optimism hopes" (when headlines of vaccines and openings hit) when we're likely to see a belated fallout due to people's dropped incomes and lost jobs? Is it just that the upper middle class are insulated from all of this? I'm reading that mortgage activity is spiking as well. There's clearly a multiple tier system at work here.

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(just my personal theories, I have no professional finance experience)

* There is no good alternative to stocks. Interest rates are 0, bonds aren't returning much, commodities are volatile, and cash is bad vs inflation. You mentioned an increase in mortgage activity which is likely also driven by this in combination with cheap debt. * The fed has shown that they are willing to continue pumping money into the market. This increases confidence in the market driving up prices.

Stock market prices do not reflect economic realities since the invention of central banking that arbitrarily injects its fiat currency for political reasons. Instead of expecting the market to go down, expect inflation to rise rapidly.

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