Quarterly Capital Raised by SPACs In the first half of 2025, Special Purpose Acquisition Companies raised $12 billion—a significant increase from the same period in 2024—though still considerably less than in the first half of 2021. Image: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
S&P 500 Market Capitalization to Real Disposable Personal Income The S&P 500’s market capitalization relative to real disposable personal income has reached a record high of 28 times, surpassing the previous peak of 25 times observed during the 2021 meme stock frenzy—a level never seen before. Image: Real Investment Advice
S&P 500 Four-Year Cycle The behavior of the S&P 500—peaking in early August with a softer year-end rally—is a typical post-election year trend observed historically in U.S. presidential election cycles. Image: Ned Davis Research
Performance of the Magnificent Seven Stocks Following a period of underperformance, the Mag-7 index has almost caught up to the S&P 500, reflecting regained investor confidence in U.S. AI giants despite the challenges posed by DeepSeek’s low-cost AI innovation. Image: Deutsche Bank
Equity Risk Premium and S&P 500 Valuations The current U.S. equity market’s expensive valuations are more grounded in earnings reality than during the late 1990s, but investors should remain cautious due to limited downside protection and valuations ranked at a high percentile. Image: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
Equity Style Flows Call and put writing strategies have attracted strong inflows over the past 12 months and continue to be popular for their ability to generate income and manage downside risk. Image: J.P. Morgan Equity Derivatives Strategy
Valuation – S&P 500 Forward Price-to-Earnings U.S. stocks are trading near their post-pandemic peak levels, leaving little margin for error and increasing the market’s vulnerability to negative news despite ongoing optimistic drivers. Image: Bloomberg
Copper Futures Copper prices declined significantly after it became clear that refined copper—essential for many industries—would not be subject to new U.S. tariffs, causing a sharp shift in market supply and demand expectations. Image: Daily Chartbook, Koyfin
Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index In July, the US dollar’s strength was fueled by its safe-haven appeal amid the US-EU tariff agreement, which benefited U.S. economic interests and helped prevent escalating trade disputes. Image: Bloomberg
Monthly Median IPO Return Durig First Trading Day The strong first-day trading performance of U.S. IPOs in 2025 provides clear evidence of a resurgence in speculative trading and renewed investor confidence in new listings. Image: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
Median Monthly Flow into Equity Mutual Funds and ETFs as a % of Total AUM August has historically been a challenging month for equity markets, often marked by lower investor activity and net outflows from equity funds. Image: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research