Authored by Jesse Felder via The Felder Report,

The stock market soared in the first half of the year partly due to record inflows from foreign investors.

But as the late, great Justin Mamis used to say, “foreigners and dentists are the last to buy.”

A mania surrounding artificial intelligence also played a part but what if it “turns out to be a dud”?

Finally, a temporary reprieve from a growing “liquidity hole” also helped to support stock prices but that reprieve is now coming to an end.

Rising long-term interest rates, as a result of the rapidly growing needs of the treasury, could create problems for prices of assets of all sorts. 

More importantly, they could put the Fed in a real bind.

At some point, investors may seek “protection from financial turmoil and mounting inflationary pressures” in an asset that proven an effective safe haven for generations.