A yield curve inversion? International weakness triggering a manufacturing slowdown? A potentially overconfident consumer and a Fed caught up in a brief interest-rate cutting cycle, regardless of steady GDP growth? And, of course, an impeachment inquiry.Well, in 1998, it sure was, according to BTIG strategist Julian Emanuel, who pointed out that the similarities between then and now are “too striking” to ignore.
The downside: We all remember — or should — what happened in the aftermath of that “point of maximum public bullishness.” Congressional antitrust investigators, the Wall Street Journal reported, are scrutinizing plans by Alphabet’s GOOG, -0.37% Google to use a new internet protocol, concerned that it could give the company a competitive advantage by making it harder for others to access consumer data. Google responded that it has “no plans to centralize or change people’s DNS providers to Google by default.”