The S&P 500, which fell 7% annually at the end of March, is up almost 9% in 2026.
bull market continues on his way.
As AI trading goes into overdrive and the market moves away from geopolitical concerns almost immediately, it’s worth considering the potential for a market meltdown.
Maybe it’s already here?
These are the one-year returns for various parts of the stock market:
Not bad, but these things happen, especially after a decent sized correction from the Independence Day sales.
However, there are a lot of charts where prices are going vertical.
look Intel:
The stock was dying, down more than 70%. Now it has reached new heights in the blink of an eye; increased by almost 500% last year.
How about Sandisk?
Last year, the data storage company was up more than 4,100%. In a year! This year alone, SNDK increased by 558%. The month of May.
Sandisk was a spinoff of Western Digital and is another stock on the rise:
This stock is up almost 1000% in the last 12 months.
Micron also looks set to go to the moon:
Shares are up a whopping 777% since last spring.
Broadcom has grown 850% in the last 5 years:
Most of these stocks are semiconductors, and that’s why semiconductors as a group have moved much, much higher:
Semiconductor stocks accounted for just 6% of the S&P 500 at its lowest point last April, according to Bespoke Investment Group. Today it’s 22 percent. Wow.
What about a country?
Check out South Korean stocks:
We took off like a rocket ship.
That’s a 240% annual return for one of the world’s largest developed markets.
South Korean stock market is now bigger than the UK stock market! Unreal.
It helps that nearly 50% of the index is in just two AI-related names (SK Hynix and Samsung), which are driving these two stocks wild.
Now look at another chart going vertical: South Korean index earnings expectations:
Perhaps the craziest thing about the current market trajectory is how much of it is fueled by fundamentals. Earnings are rising, so so are stocks.
What a concept.
When there is a pocket of the market moving higher, it feels like we are in the 9th inning of the bull market.
Based on all the failed predictions, we could be at the bottom of 23rd at this point.
Here is an updated version of the melting chart I wrote about last year:
At the time, the Nasdaq 100 had gained 512% in the previous 10 years. It is now up almost 650% in the last 10 years.
This is definitely starting to feel like a meltdown.
The crazy thing is that we haven’t even reached the robot stage of AI.
Meir Statman once wrote: “The market may be crazy, but that doesn’t make you a psychologist.”
Certain segments of the stock market are starting to act up and feel like crazy.
That doesn’t mean it can’t get even crazier from here.
Further Reading:
Don’t Fight the Stock Market
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