2024 will go down in history as the year of the 'Soft Landing Miracle'. Against all odds, the Federal Reserve managed to bring inflation down from 9% to 3% without triggering a recession. Unemployment remained historically low at 3.7%.
The S&P 500 returned a stunning 24%, driven almost entirely by the 'Magnificent 7' tech giants. The AI revolution fueled a productivity boom narrative that offset higher interest rates.
Retrospective: The 'Immaculate Disinflation' was real. Supply chains healed, and the labor market rebalanced without mass layoffs. But valuations are now stretched.