The S&P 500 is in position for a rare fourth year of consecutive annual gains. Risks are rising, our columnist says, yet Wall Street is doubling down.
The U.S. stock market has been splendid for more than three years. It has powered ahead again in 2026, putting the S&P 500 in position for a rare feat: a fourth consecutive year of double-digit gains.
That’s happened only three times since 1928 — most recently, in the late 1990s. That boom was also fueled by extravagant hopes based on a technological breakthrough. Then, it was the internet. Now, it’s artificial intelligence.
The 1990s stretch, when the S&P 500 rose more than 20 percent each year from 1995 through 1999, had another distinction: It was the only string of five consecutive years of double-digit gains in the last 98 years.
