{"id":2610968,"date":"2026-06-05T08:15:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-is-the-stock-market-breaking-records-while-sentiment-is-low\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T08:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:20:45","slug":"why-is-the-stock-market-breaking-records-while-sentiment-is-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-is-the-stock-market-breaking-records-while-sentiment-is-low\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is the stock market breaking records while sentiment is low?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-is-the-stock-market-breaking-records-while-sentiment-is-low%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2610968&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Despite the economy feeling worse to many consumers,the stock market is still posting record gains. Experts say this disconnect is largely because corporate profits-and especially tech investment in artificial intelligence-are driving much of the market\u2019s rise, even as economic conditions remain mixed.<\/p>\n<p>Market performance is strong: the S&#038;P 500 is up nearly 11% since the start of 2026 and about 28% over the past year, while the nasdaq has gained roughly 16% since January and about 40% over the last year. the article argues that productivity gains from AI can coexist wiht inflation pressures, but it also notes that inflation has picked up again, including in the personal consumption expenditures measure (rising to 3.8% in April).<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile,consumer sentiment is deteriorating. The University of Michigan\u2019s preliminary May reading fell to 44.8, down from 49.8 in April and at levels even worse than the period surrounding the Great Recession and early COVID-era lockdowns. The article highlights that cost-of-living concerns remain a dominant issue-57% of consumers say high prices are eroding their finances-and that consumer optimism about AI and Wall Street gains isn\u2019t translating into improved views on \u201cMain Street.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It also adds that U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >equities lagged foreign markets<\/a> on a relative basis last year, and suggests AI-related spending could still have further room to grow. it points to political stakes in an election year: inflation and household budget stress may outweigh the potential benefits incumbents could claim from rising stock prices, even though some groups-particularly older, more invested Americans-may feel wealthier due to market gains.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/stock-market\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"3745\">stock market<\/a> keeps breaking records, which might seem confusing for consumers who feel the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/economy\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"8768\">economy<\/a> is worse than even the depths of the Great Recession.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That seeming mismatch is a glaring one, particularly for those who aren\u2019t invested in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/markets\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1824\">markets<\/a> and are missing seeing their personal wealth or retirement savings increase. But the stock market\u2019s recent gains are being driven largely by investment in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/artificial-intelligence\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1658\">artificial intelligence<\/a>, according to experts.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/4595334\/peta-sue-dc-metro-refuse-run-advertisement\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>PETA sues DC Metro system over refusal to run advertisements<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/4594280\/spacex-175-billion-ipo-musk-trillionaire\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>SpaceX sets $75 billion IPO target as Musk on track to become first trillionaire<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/4593805\/amazon-walmart-fortune-500-list\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Amazon beats out Walmart for No. 1 company on Fortune 500<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4587876\/tough-news-kevin-warsh-first-week-federal-reserve\/\"><strong>TOUGH NEWS FOR KEVIN WARSH IN FIRST FULL WEEK AS FED CHAIRMAN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe stock market is driven by corporate profits more than it\u2019s driven by the economy,\u201d Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist for LPL Financial, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo we have an environment now where all of this investment in AI by tech companies is driving huge gains in corporate profits, even while the economy grows at a fairly modest pace, and still, of course, has some headwinds,\u201d Buchbinder added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And investors are having a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kevin-spacey-ordered-to-pay-studio-31m-for-breaching-sex-harassment-policy\/\" title=\"Kevin Spacey Ordered To Pay Studio M For Breaching Sex-Harassment Policy\">pretty good year<\/a> so far.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The benchmark S&#038;P 500 has risen nearly 11% since the start of 2026 \u2014 despite the war in Iran, the departure of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, the threat of possibly higher interest rates, and rising inflation. Over the past year, the index has risen more than 28%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tech-heavy Nasdaq has been even more of a cash cow. It has risen more than 16% since January alone and posted very solid 40% gains over the past year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that he gets asked questions about why the stock market is performing so well despite weaker spots in the macro economy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cox said people assume these things happen in a vacuum \u2014 but insisted that the stock market can still boom despite other economic conditions, such as higher inflation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe two can coexist, right? You can have both a massive productivity-enhancing technology wave happening at the same time that there is a temporary rise in inflation,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also predicted that the AI boom is about 80% responsible for recent gains in the market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And inflation has been on the rise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inflation in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/benchmark-inflation-measure-hits-highest-level-in-30-years\/\" title=\"Benchmark ... Measure Hits Highest Level In 30 ...s\">personal consumption expenditures price index<\/a>, the most closely tracked gauge, rose to 3.8% in April, well above the Fed\u2019s 2% target and much higher than just a few months ago before the war with Iran sent energy prices spiking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CPI inflation had fallen to as low as 2.4% in January before the war began, so headline inflation has vaulted more than a full percentage point \u2014 something that comes at a time when consumers were already complaining about cost-of-living concerns.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-discontent-with-economy-is-broad-and-deep\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Discontent with economy is broad and deep<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And on top of the higher inflation, consumers are more generally reporting dissatisfaction with the state of the economy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consumer sentiment fell to 44.8, down from 49.8 in April, according to a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for May, dropping lower than it did during the worst of the Great Recession and when the entire country was locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consumer sentiment is now down 10% from a month ago and more than 14% from a year ago. That marked the third straight month of falling consumer sentiment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe cost of living continues to be a first-order concern, with 57% of consumers spontaneously mentioning that high prices were eroding their personal finances, up from 50% last month,\u201d said Joanne Hsu, the survey director.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sentiment readings show that optimism about AI and bullishness on Wall Street are not showing up in how people are feeling on Main Street.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe stock market record highs are having no effect whatsoever on cheering consumers up, which means most Americans have the money locked up in 401(k) retirement accounts that cannot be drawn on to make life easier now,\u201d said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ryan Young, a senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said consumer sentiment is pessimistically biased and not necessarily always tied to economic stagnation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd I think the fact that it\u2019s cratered to record lows is more an indicator of how people feel about politics rather than about their personal financial conditions,\u201d he told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And despite the gains in the stock market, Young said the U.S. equities market underperformed foreign markets last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo the U.S. did well, but in relative terms, we\u2019re actually falling behind international markets,\u201d Young said. \u201cWe had a 16% return; international markets had a 29% return, so the U.S. could and should have had an even better year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many say, though, that the AI boom in the markets has some more room to run. Cox emphasized just how much investment has flowed through the space recently, noting that spending is twice that of the Manhattan Project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s such a big deal, and people can comprehend it kind of, but the numbers are so big that it\u2019s really easy to overlook it or not believe it,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while the stock market continues to gain, there are political implications at play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/finance-and-economy\/4590912\/job-openings-rise-highest-level-nearly-two-years\/\"><strong>JOB OPENINGS RISE TO HIGHEST LEVEL IN NEARLY TWO YEARS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s an election year, and Republicans are fighting to retain control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. And the positives for incumbents resulting from a booming stock market might be outstripped by the negatives of too-high inflation \u2014 something that hurt 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think people are going to be more focused on inflation, on their budgetary constraints, the level of stress that they may have financially,\u201d Kates said, although he added that some cohorts, such as older people who are more heavily invested, could be feeling wealthier from the stock gains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Zach Halaschak (@zhalaschak) is the economics reporter for the<\/em> Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stock market hits record highs, yet many feel the economy is worse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3360,"featured_media":2610969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Biz.061026.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[51942,80866,80867,35133,8022],"class_list":["post-2610968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-economic-outlook","tag-investor-sentiment","tag-market-records","tag-stock-market","tag-volatility"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Biz.061026.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2610968"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2610976,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610968\/revisions\/2610976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2610969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2610968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2610968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2610968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}