Are US stocks poised to continue their dramatic run, or is a pause ahead? That’s the question investors are asking as the S&P 500 heads into the close of the year with fresh highs coming into view. Signs of cooling inflation have fuelled hopes that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates, helping extend a rally that has seen the S&P 500 gain over 9 per cent since late October.
The index is now up nearly 18 per cent for the year and less than 2 per cent away from its year-high, reached in July. Its record closing level, from January 2022, is some 6 per cent away. Whether it can reach those levels in coming weeks depends in-part on how convinced investors are that the US economy is on track for a so-called soft landing, where the Fed brings down inflation without badly damaging growt