The stock market has been relatively quiet lately.
The benchmark S&P 500 hasn’t suffered a 5% pullback since October and has advanced 35% since the end of that month.
The last time the index enjoyed a respite of such length was from June 2016 to early February 2018 when stocks charged steadily higher before the 2016 presidential election and after Donald Trump’s surprise victory.
The brief selloff at the beginning of last week suggests there is anxiety percolating in the market, though.
Investors said they have been grappling with both the risk that a highly contagious variant of Covid-19 could threaten growth and indications that the Federal Reserve could dial back its easy-money policies sooner than expected.