One by one, the concerns that have hung over the stock market have faded. Fears that the United States economy would dip into a recession this year have eased. The Federal Reserve seems to be finished raising interest rates for the foreseeable future, and optimism has increased that the United States and China could end their trade war. For much of the past decade, the fate of the stock market has been tied to the performance of a handful of the largest tech companies: Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Facebook, Microsoft and Netflix led the market from one record to the next. They led on the way down too, dragging the broader market lower over the final three months of 2018 and nearly ending the longest bull market on record.

Source: New York Times February 03, 2019 20:15 UTC