Stocks rose sharply Friday and for the week. Stock values have come down since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the price of the Standard & Poor’s 500 is now in line with its long-term compound annual growth rate of 7%. This indicates stocks are not overpriced like they were in the tech-stock bubble, which began in 1997 and peaked in 1999 and 2000, when the S&P 500 was out of line with the average annual 7% long-term growth trend.

Currently, the economy and stock market seems troubled and scary. A bear market began on June 13 and prices are sharply lower than at the beginning of 2022. How bad do things look to the experts?