Several months before every recession in modern U.S. history, the Standard & Poor's 500 index began a bull market.

Yet The Economist, an esteemed financial magazine, in a May 9 cover story said the stock market is disconnected from the economic reality.

But could the financial press sometimes miss the big picture? After all, bull markets always occur in plain sight but go unseen. They are never expected and always sneak up on investors.