Stocks Rally Despite Recession Fears: Weekly Review

According to Bloomberg Intelligence's Economic Regime Index, the worst of America's economic pain appears to have happened months ago, indicating that an economic downturn possibly started in June and bottomed in December. While the model still signals weakness in the economy, as long as it stays above its late-2022 lows the outlook is favorable for the S&P 500 Index. Investors are growing increasingly confident that the Federal Reserve will at some point this year end the cycle of interest-rate hikes that spurred the S&P 500's 19% plunge in 2022, its worst performance since 2008.