In just the first 5 months of 2020, we experienced the end of an 11-year Bull market, a lightning-fast 33-day Bear market, and the start of a new Bull market.
Now, with the economy slowly reopening, stocks have rebounded more sharply than we would expect given the depth of the coronavirus recession.
Currently, the official unemployment rate sits at an extreme at 13.3%. It will likely take time for employment, gross domestic product, and corporate profits to claw back to 2019 levels.
However, some sectors of the market are making new all-time highs.
So, what gives? And where do we go from here?
In her 2020 Mid-Year Outlook, Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist at Charles Schwab offers a word of caution for the short-term but strikes an optimistic tone for long-term economic progress.
It is safe to expect elevated volatility through the remainder of the year as economic numbers remain depressed while the newly kickstarted economy may sputter with a second wave of coronavirus outbreak.
However, this pessimism is balanced with potential economic surprises and continued advances in treatments and vaccines for the virus.