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Monday, February 24, 2014

STOCK MARKET SURGES TO ALL-TIME HIGH

The S&P 500 has just hit a new all-time high at 1851.55 this morning.

The previous peak was on January 15, when the index hit 1850.84. After that, the market fell 6% through February 3. Since then, it has surged higher, erasing all of those losses and then some.

This morning, the index is up 0.8%, trading above 1851.

The chart below shows the move.

"One of the main questions we have tried to address with investors over the past several weeks is whether contagion from the emerging markets can impact U.S. equities," says Adam Parker, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley.

"So far we have been pretty dismissive. Why? Because complacency has become a learned behavior in the mini-crises that have periodically popped up since the summer of 2011. After all, every dip in the S&P 500 caused by Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, or Portugal was a dip to be bought. Every monetary policy decision, or fear of a hard landing, or Washington standstill, was an opportunity to load up. So, why should a 'little' cocktail of Turkey, Argentina, and the Ukraine cause sustained fear? What really matters is that the dream of growth is still alive, and that the bear case in U.S. corporate earnings doesn't form. Without significant fear of an earnings pullback, the market really never goes down more than 10%."

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READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com