everything bubble

The term first appeared in 2014, during the chair of Janet Yellen, and reflected her strategy of applying prolonged monetary looseness (e.g. the Yellen put of continual low-interest rates and direct quantitative easing), as a method of boosting near-term economic growth via asset price inflation (a part of modern monetary theory (MMT){{efn|name=ModernMonetaryTheory | MMT asserts that excessive asset price inflation will lead to an increase in real price inflation, which will lead to an increase in yields, and correspondingly reduce the asset price inflation (i.e. a self-stabilizing system). Critics say that most historical periods of excessive asset price inflation did not produce such self-stabilization, but instead produced financial collapse and real price deflation (e.g. post-1920s America, post-1990 Japan, and post-2008 Europe); in other cases, the inflation was not controllable, also leading to a financial collapse (e.g. the 1970s in the United States).{{cite book | title=The Escape from Balance Sheet Recession and the QE Trap: A Hazardous Road for the World Economy Kindle Edition | author=Richard Koo | author-link=Richard Koo | isbn=978-1119028123 | date=October 2014 | publisher=Wiley}}}}).{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | title=There Is No Tech Bubble. Still, Be Worried | first=Noah | last=Smith | date=5 July 2015 | access-date=7 January 2021 | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-07-06/there-is-no-tech-bubble-still-be-worried- | quote=The danger isn't that we're in a unicorn bubble. The danger isn't even that we're in a tech bubble. The danger is that we're in an Everything Bubble – that valuations across the board are simply too high}}{{cite news | newspaper=New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/upshot/janet-yellen-on-the-everything-bubble.html | title=Janet Yellen on the Everything Bubble | first=Neil | last=Irwin | date=15 July 2014 | access-date=27 November 2020}}{{cite magazine | magazine=Barron's | url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/is-emerging-markets-rally-part-of-an-everything-bubble-1499991033 | date=13 July 2017 | access-date=29 December 2020 | title=Chair Yellen: Is Emerging Markets Rally Part of An 'Everything Bubble'? | first=Dimitra | last=DeFotis}}{{cite news | newspaper=The New Zealand Herald | first=Jason | last=Murphy | url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/what-happens-if-the-everything-bubble-bursts/BCPILTXBYJKHCUUAK2TVVMILVA/ | date=13 January 2018 | accessdate=22 February 2021 | title=What happens if the 'everything bubble' bursts?}}

The term came to greater prominence during the subsequent chair of Jerome Powell, initially during Powell's first monetary easing in Q4 2019 (the Powell put),{{cite news | url=https://www.ft.com/content/bc83fda6-3702-11ea-a6d3-9a26f8c3cba4 | title=The Federal Reserve is the cause of the bubble in everything | last=Howell | first=Mark | newspaper=Financial Times | date=16 January 2020 | access-date=9 November 2020}}{{cite news | newspaper=Washington Post | title=The global economy is likely to rebound in 2020, but the IMF warns of eerie parallels to the 1920s | first=Heather | last=Long | date=20 January 2020 | access-date=11 November 2020 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/01/20/global-economy-is-likely-rebound-2020-imf-warns-eerie-parallels-roaring-1920s/ }} but more substantially during the 2020–2021 coronavirus pandemic, when Powell embraced asset bubbles to combat the financial impact of the pandemic.{{cite web | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-06-11/powell-signals-fed-is-ready-to-let-asset-bubbles-inflate-again-kba982so | website=Bloomberg | first=John | last=Authers | author-link=John Authers | date=11 June 2020 | access-date=9 November 2020 | title=Powell's Ready to Play the Fresh Prince of Bubbles}}{{cite web | website=The Hill | date=19 May 2020 | access-date=9 November 2020 | first=Desmond | last=Lachman |author-link=Desmond Lachman| title=The Federal Reserve's everything bubble | url=https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/498573-the-federal-reserves-everything-bubble }} By early 2021, Powell had created the loosest financial conditions ever recorded,{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-14/u-s-financial-conditions-easiest-on-record-goldman-sachs-says | title=U.S. Financial Conditions Easiest on Record, Goldman Sachs Says | first=Rich | last=Miller | date=14 December 2020 | access-date=25 December 2020}} and most US assets were simultaneously at levels of valuation that matched their highest individual levels in economic history.{{cite web | website =The Hill | url=https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/533002-georgia-and-the-everything-market-bubble | title=Georgia and the everything market bubble | first=Desmond | last=Lachman | author-link=Desmond Lachman | date=7 January 2021 | access-date=7 January 2021}}{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-01-24/central-banks-are-creating-bubbles-everywhere-in-the-pandemic | title=Pandemic-Era Central Banking Is Creating Bubbles Everywhere | first1=Enda | last1=Curran | first2=Chris | last2=Anstey | date=24 January 2021 | access-date=24 January 2021}}{{cite news | newspaper=Financial Times | url=https://www.ft.com/content/d424625f-6cff-4cd2-bb6a-ff95ec440899 | title=Snap AV: US valuations eclipse dotcom madness | first=Jamie | last=Powell | date=2 February 2021 | accessdate=12 February 2021}} Powell rejected the claim that US assets were definitively in a bubble, invoking the Fed model,{{efn|The Fed model is a disputed form of equity valuation which has been challenged by academics, and particularly at very low yields.{{cite journal | journal=Journal of Asset Management | first1=Andreas | last1=Humpe | first2=David | last2=McMillan | title= Equity/bond yield correlation and the FED model: evidence of switching behaviour from the G7 markets |volume= 19 | pages= 413–428 | date=2018 | issue=6 | doi=10.1057/s41260-018-0091-x | quote=We demonstrate that at low levels of the real bond yield, the correlation between the equity and bond yields turns negative. This arises as the lower bond yield implies heightened macroeconomic risk (e.g. deflation and economic stagnation) and causes equity and bond prices to move in opposite directions. | hdl=1893/27892 | s2cid=158210939 | hdl-access=free }} A notable example is post-1990s Japan when ultra-low yields did not stop Japanese equity valuations from dropping substantially for decades, only stopping when the Bank of Japan started directly buying equities to support their price.}} to assert that ultra-low yields justified higher asset prices.{{cite web | website =Bloomberg | date=17 December 2020 | access-date=18 December 2020 | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-16/powell-busts-out-fed-model-to-defend-high-equity-valuations | title=Soaring Stock Valuations No Big Deal to Powell Next to Bonds | first1=Sarah |last1=Ponczek |first2=Lu |last2=Wang}}{{cite news | newspaper=The Wall Street Journal | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/has-the-fed-rewritten-the-laws-of-investing-11608747325 | title=Has the Fed Rewritten the Laws of Investing? | first=Justin | last=Lahart | date=23 December 2020 | access-date=25 December 2020}} Powell also rejected criticism that the scale of the asset bubbles had widened US wealth inequality to levels not seen since the 1920s,{{cite web | url=https://www.axios.com/jerome-powell-federal-reserve-economic-inequality-80446ee0-8e4d-49ee-9ac1-c7f25806fab0.html | title=Jerome Powell's ironic legacy on economic inequality | website=Axios | first=Dion | last=Rabouin | date=13 October 2020 | access-date=11 November 2020}}{{cite web | website=MarketWatch | url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-federal-reserves-policies-have-drastically-increased-inequality-2020-08-15 | title=Opinion: The Federal Reserve's policies have drastically increased inequality | first=Howard |last=Gold | date=17 August 2020 | access-date=19 November 2020}} on the basis that the asset bubbles would themselves promote job growth, thus reducing the inequality.{{cite web | website=Reuters | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-jacksonhole-stocks-analysis-idUSKBN25O1KC | title=Levitating stocks unlikely to help Fed's economic equality efforts | date=28 August 2020 | accessdate=17 February 2021 | first1=April |last1=Joyner | first2=Saqib Iqbal | last2=Ahmed | first3=Megan |last3=Davies}}{{cite web | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-06-09/fed-needs-better-answers-on-runaway-markets-and-inequality | title=Fed Needs Better Answers on Runaway Markets and Inequality | first=Brian | last=Chapatta | date=9 June 2020 | access-date=11 November 2020 | website=Bloomberg}}{{cite web | website=Reuters | url=https://in.reuters.com/article/usa-fed-markets/fed-defends-pedal-to-the-metal-policy-and-is-not-fearful-of-asset-bubbles-ahead-idUSKBN268050 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923234922/https://in.reuters.com/article/usa-fed-markets/fed-defends-pedal-to-the-metal-policy-and-is-not-fearful-of-asset-bubbles-ahead-idUSKBN268050 | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 23, 2020 | title=Fed defends 'pedal to the metal' policy and is not fearful of asset bubbles ahead | first=David | last=Randall | date=11 September 2020 | access-date=11 November 2020}} The contrast between the distress experienced by "Main Street" during the pandemic, and the economic boom experienced by "Wall Street", who had one of their most profitable years in history, was controversial,{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url= https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-21/stock-market-in-2020-bear-market-for-humans-while-dow-and-nasdaq-hit-records | title=2020 Has Been a Great Year for Stocks and a Bear Market for Humans | date= 21 December 2020 | access-date= 21 January 2021 | first=Michael P. | last=Regan}}{{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/26/business/investors-bull-market-pandemic.html | title=Market Edges Toward Euphoria, Despite Pandemic's Toll | date=26 December 2020 | access-date=3 January 2021 | first=Matt | last=Phillips}} and earned Powell the title of Wall Street's Dr. Feelgood.{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/powell-has-become-the-feds-dr-feelgood-11593370222 | title=Powell Has Become the Fed's Dr. Feelgood | first=Jim | last=Grant | author-link=James Grant (finance) | date=28 June 2020 | access-date=11 November 2020 | newspaper=Wall Street Journal }}

Powell was supported by Congress, with speaker Pelosi saying in October 2020, "Well, let me just say that the number, I think, that is staggering is that we have more people unemployed and on unemployment benefits than any time in our country's history. We know that the Fed is shoring up the markets so that the stock market can do well. I don't complain about that, I want the market to do well."{{cite web | url=https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/102920-0 | title=Transcript of Pelosi Interview on Bloomberg News' Balance of Power with David Westin | date=29 October 2020 | access-date=26 November 2020 | website=Speaker.gov}}{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-06/stocks-show-jerome-powell-is-still-wall-street-s-head-of-state | title=Stocks Show Jerome Powell Is Still Wall Street's Head of State | date=6 November 2020 | access-date=11 November 2020 | first1=Katherine | last1= Greifeld | first2=Lu | last2=Wang | first3=Vildana | last3=Hajric}}{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-22/bofa-warns-u-s-policy-is-fueling-a-bubble-in-wall-street-prices | title=BofA Warns U.S. Policy Is Fueling a Bubble in Wall Street Prices | first=Michael | last=Msika | date=22 January 2021 | accessdate=16 February 2021}}

File:JamesBullard.jpg said he did not see a bubble: "That's just normal investing".]]

In early 2021, some market participants warned that Powell's everything bubble had reached dangerous levels. Investor Jeremy Grantham said, "All three of Powell's predecessors claimed that the asset prices they helped inflate in turn aided the economy through the wealth effect", before eventually collapsing.{{cite web | website=GMO Asset Management | url=https://www.gmo.com/europe/research-library/waiting-for-the-last-dance/ | title=Waiting for the Last Dance | date=5 January 2021 | access-date=5 January 2021}}{{cite web | website=Business Insider | url=https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/jeremy-grantham-reiterates-stock-market-epic-bubble-warning-investing-burst-2021-1-1029935047 | title=Jeremy Grantham reiterates his warning that the stock market is in an epic bubble | first=Emily | last=Graffeo | date=5 January 2021 | access-date=5 January 2021}} Investor Seth Klarman said that the Fed had "broken the market", and that "the market's usual role in price discovery had been suspended".{{cite news | newspaper=Financial Times | url=https://www.ft.com/content/9c3ecb09-c4bd-4066-a462-af496725105d | title=Baupost's Seth Klarman compares investors to 'frogs in boiling water' | date=21 January 2021 | accessdate=12 February 2021 | quote=Value investing guru says the Federal Reserve has broken the stock market}} Economist Mohamed El-Erian said "you have such an enormous disconnect between fundamentals and valuations", and that the record highs in assets were due to the actions of the Fed and the ECB, clarifying "That is the reason why we've seen prices going from one record high to another despite completely changing narratives. Forget about the 'great reopening', the 'Trump trade' and all this other stuff".{{cite news | newspaper=Neue Zürcher Zeitung | url=https://themarket.ch/english/mohamed-el-erian-this-is-starting-to-get-to-dangerous-levels-ld.3371 | title=Mohamed El-Erian: 'This Is Starting to Get to Dangerous Levels' | date=7 January 2021 | access-date=10 January 2021 | first=Christoph | last=Gisiger | quote=That is the reason why we've seen prices going from one record high to another despite completely changing narratives. Forget about the 'great reopening', the 'Trump trade' and all this other stuff}} The Financial Times warned that the inequality from Powell's K-shaped recovery could lead to political and social instability, saying: "The majority of people are suffering, amid a Great Gatsby-style boom at the top".{{cite news | newspaper=Financial Times | first=Edward | last=Luce | url=https://www.ft.com/content/bcb8d4d9-ca6d-45b7-aafc-9e9ecf672a5b | title=America's dangerous reliance on the Fed | date=3 January 2021 | access-date=4 January 2021}}

Several commentators called the 2020–2021 market created by Powell as being the most speculative market ever seen, including CNBC host Jim Cramer who said: "You can't lose in that market", and "it's like a slot machine" that always pays out. "I've not seen this in my career".{{cite web | website=CNBC | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/24/cramer-calls-this-stock-market-the-most-speculative-hes-ever-seen.html | title=Cramer calls this stock market environment 'the most speculative' he's ever seen | first=Matthew J. | last=Belvedere | date=24 November 2020 | accessdate=13 February 2021}} Bloomberg said: "Animal spirits are famously running wild across Wall Street, but crunch the numbers and this bull market is even crazier than it seems"{{cite web | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-19/a-speculative-frenzy-is-sweeping-wall-street-and-world-markets | website=Bloomberg | date=19 December 2020 | accessdate=15 February 2020 | title=A Speculative Frenzy Is Sweeping Wall Street and World Markets}} ("Animal spirits" is a term popularized in the 1930s by economist John Maynard Keynes to describe the influence of human emotions on finance and investing). The extreme level of speculation led to notable individual speculative events including the GameStop short squeeze in January 2021, the five-fold rise in the Goldman Sachs Non-Profitable Technology Index.{{cite news | newspaper=Financial Times | url=https://www.ft.com/content/9a19f41e-1fb6-451f-b0eb-02decf331592 | title=This is nuts, where are the profits? | first=Jamie | last=Powell | date=20 January 2021 | accessdate=17 February 2021}} and the record rise in micro-cap stocks, 14 of which would have qualified for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index by February 2021. At the end of January 2021, the Wall Street Journal markets desk said: "For once, everyone seems to agree: Much of the market looks like it's in a bubble",{{cite news | newspaper=Wall Street Journal | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/markets-look-like-theyre-in-a-bubble-what-do-investors-do-now-11612089001 | title=Markets Look Like They're in a Bubble. What Do Investors Do Now? | date=31 January 2021 | accessdate=16 February 2021 | first1=Michael | last1=Wursthorn | first2=Akane | last2=Otani}} while Goldman Sachs said that the S&P 500 was at or near its most expensive levels in history on most measures, with the forward EV/EBITDA breaking 17× for the first time.

In February 2021, the Fed's Bullard said that they did not see an asset bubble and would continue to apply a high level of monetary stimulus.{{cite web | website=CNBC | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/16/feds-bullard-doesnt-see-asset-bubble-and-doubts-policy-will-tighten-soon.html | title=Fed's Bullard doesn't see asset bubble and doubts policy will tighten soon | first=Jeff | last=Cox | date=15 February 2021 | accessdate=16 February 2021}} Bloomberg wrote that Powell, in the final year of his first term, was afraid to tighten in case of a repeat of the crash he caused in Q4 2018.{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-26/powell-with-year-to-run-at-fed-aims-to-avoid-past-qe-mistake | title=Powell, With Year to Run at Fed, Aims to Avoid Past QE Mistake | first=Rich | last=Miller | date=26 January 2021 | access-date=27 January 2021}} The Financial Times warned US regulators to regard the experience of the Chinese stock market bubble, when monetary easing by the Chinese state in 2014 led to a bubble, but then a crash over 2015–2016, in Chinese markets.{{cite news | newspaper=Financial Times | url=https://www.ft.com/content/b6a9759c-f49a-4f75-9422-5d11fecaee94 | title=China's struggle to control stock bubble offers lessons in investor mania | first=Josh | last=Noble | date=4 February 2021 | accessdate=17 February 2021}} In February 2021, the former head of the BOJ financial markets division warned that the BOJ should adjust the level of direct purchases it makes of Nikkei ETFs due to bubble concerns.{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-16/boj-should-avoid-etf-buys-fueling-stock-bubble-ex-official-says | title=BOJ Should Avoid ETF Buys Fueling Stock Bubble, Ex-Official Says | date=16 February 2021 | accessdate=19 February 2021 | first1=Toru | last1=Fujioka | first2=Sumio | last2=Ito}}{{efn|The Bank of Japan is the largest owner of Japanese shares through direct daily purchases of Nikkei ETFs, leading to questions over the integrity of the pricing of Japanese securities, and their long-term viability.{{cite web | website=BloombergQuint | url=https://www.bloombergquint.com/markets/boj-becomes-biggest-japan-stock-owner-with-434-billion-hoard#:~:text=BOJ%20Becomes%20Biggest%20Japan%20Stock%20Owner%20With%20%24434%20Billion%20Hoard,-Min%20Jeong%20Lee&text=(Bloomberg)%20%2D%2D%20The%20Bank%20of,climbing%20well%20above%20%24400%20billion. | title=BOJ Becomes Biggest Japan Stock Owner With $434 Billion Hoard | first1=Min Jeong | last1=Lee | first2=Toshiro | last2=Hasegawa | date=20 December 2020 | accessdate=19 February 2021}}}}

By early 2022, rising inflation forced Powell, and latterly other central banks, to significantly tighten financial conditions including raising interest rates and quantitative tightening (the opposite of quantitative easing), which led to a synchronized fall across most asset prices (i.e. the opposite effect to the 'everything bubble').{{cite web | magazine=Barron's | url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/things-to-know-today-51651834265 | date=6 May 2022 | accessdate=4 August 2022 | first=Brian | last=Swint | title=The Famous Fed Put Is Now a Fed Call, and the Bad News Is Piling Up}} In May 2022, financial historian Edward Chancellor told Fortune that "central banks' unsustainable policies have created an 'everything bubble', leaving the global economy with an inflation 'hangover{{'"}}.{{cite web | magazine=Fortune | url=https://fortune.com/2022/07/29/inflation-hangover-central-banks-to-blame-edward-chancellor-biden-capitalism/ | title=One of the greatest financial historians alive says central bankers have been incompetent for decades and inflation is our 'big hangover' | date=29 May 2022 | first=Will | last=Daniel | accessdate=5 August 2022}} Chancellor separately noted to Reuters, "If ultralow interest rates were responsible for inflating an 'everything bubble', it follows that everything – well, almost everything – is at risk from rising rates".{{cite web | website=Reuters | url=https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/inflation-revives-spectre-long-bear-market-2022-05-19/ | title=Inflation revives spectre of the long bear market | first=Edward | last=Chancellor | date=19 May 2022 | accessdate=6 August 2022 | author-link=Edward Chancellor}} By June 2022, James Mackintosh of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the Fed had "pricked the Everything Bubble",{{cite web | newspaper=The Wall Street Journal | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fed-pricked-the-everything-bubble-11655215752 | first=James | last=Mackintosh | date=14 June 2022 | accessdate=4 August 2022 | title=The Fed Pricked the Everything Bubble}} while in the same month the financial journalist Rana Foroohar told the New York Times, "Welcome to the End of the 'Everything Bubble{{'"}}.{{cite web | newspaper=New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-rana-foroohar.html | title=Welcome to the end of the 'Everything Bubble' | first=Ezra |last=Klein | author-link=Ezra Klein | date=22 June 2022 | accessdate=5 August 2022}}

The post-2020 period of the everything bubble produced several simultaneous US records/near-records for extreme levels in a diverse range of asset valuation and financial speculation metrics:

• In December 2020, the Goldman Sachs GFCI Global Financial Conditions Index (a measure of US monetary looseness), dropped below 98 for the first time in its history (the GFCI goes back to 1987).
• In January 2021, the Citibank Panic/Euphoria Index hit broke 2.0 for the first time since its inception in 1988, surpassing the previous dot-com peak of 1.5.{{cite web | website =Bloomberg | first=John | last=Authers | date=25 January 2021 | author-link=John Authers | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-25/the-stocks-bubble-o-meter-is-flashing-bright-red | title=The Stocks Bubble-O-Meter Is Flashing Bright Red}}
• In February 2021, the ratio of margin debt-to-cash in Wall Street trading accounts hit 172%, just below the historical peak of 179% set in March 2000.
• In February 2021, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that US Federal Public Debt held by the public would hit 102% of US GDP, just below the historic all-time high of 105% in 1946.{{cite news | newspaper=Wall Street Journal | author=The Editorial Board | date=12 February 2021 | accessdate=16 February 2021 | title=The Pandemic Spending Hangover | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-pandemic-spending-hangover-11613173947}}

• In January 2021, the Sherman Ratio (the yield per unit of bond duration), known as the "Bond Market's Scariest Gauge", hit an all-time low of 0.1968 for the US Corporate Bond Index.{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-14/bond-market-s-scariest-gauge-is-worse-than-ever | first=Brian | last=Chippata | date=14 January 2021 | accessdate=15 February 2021 | title=Bond Market's Scariest Gauge Is Worse Than Ever}}
• In February 2021, the yield on the US junk bond index dropped below 4% for the first time in history (the historical default rate going back to the 1980s is 4–5% per annum).{{cite web | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-08/u-s-junk-bond-yields-drop-below-4-for-the-first-time-ever | title=U.S. Junk-Bond Yields Drop Below 4% for the First Time Ever | first=Carolina | last=Gonzalez | website=Bloomberg | date=8 February 2021 | accessdate=13 February 2021 }}

• In January 2021, Goldman Sachs recorded that the forward EV/EBITDA of the S&P 500 had passed 17× on an aggregate basis, and 15.5× for the median stock, for the first time in history (note that the price-earnings ratio was less comparable due to the 2018 reduction in the US corporate tax from 39% to 21%).{{cite web | website=CNBC | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/23/the-stock-market-is-at-or-near-the-most-expensive-levels-ever-by-most-measures-when-will-it-matter.html | title=Goldman Sachs: The stock market is at or near the most expensive levels ever by most measures. When will it matter? | first=Michael | last=Santoli | date=23 January 2021 | accessdate=14 February 2021}}
• By January 2021, the short-interest on the S&P 500 dropped to 1.6%, matching the record low of 2000;{{cite news | newspaper=Wall Street Journal | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/short-bets-pummel-hot-hedge-fund-melvin-capital-11611349217 | title=Short Bets Pummel Hot Hedge Fund Melvin Capital | date=22 January 2021 | accessdate=13 February 2021 | first=Juliet | last=Chung}} the "most-shorted US stocks" outperformed by the largest margin in history in 2020.{{cite web | website=Bloomberg News| title=Bonfire of the Shorts Is a Precedent-Busting Black Swan | first=John | last=Authers | author-link=John Authers | date=12 February 2021 | accessdate=13 February 2021 | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-02-12/gamestop-black-swan-deserves-attention-from-market-regulators}}
• In January 2021, the ratio of US corporate insider share sales-to-purchases ratio hit an all-time high of 7.8× (i.e. 7.8 times more corporate executives sold their company's stock than purchased it).{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-20/companies-are-buying-back-stock-again-their-employees-less-so | first=Lu | last=Wang | date=20 January 2021 | accessdate=13 February 2021 | title=Buybacks Snap Back Amid Feverish Selling by Corporate Insiders}}
• In February 2021, the Buffett indicator, being the ratio of the total value of the US stock market (as defined by the Wilshire 5000) to US GDP, set an all-time high above 200%, surpassing the previous dot.com peak of 159.2% (and the 2009 low of 66.7%).{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-12/warren-buffett-s-favorite-valuation-metric-is-ringing-an-alarm | title=Warren Buffett's Favorite Valuation Metric Is Ringing an Alarm | first1=Michael P. | last1=Regan | first2=Vildana | last2=Hajric | first3=Claire |last3=Ballentine | date=12 February 2021 | accessdate=13 February 2021}}{{cite web | url=https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2021/02/04/market-cap-to-gdp-an-updated-look-at-the-buffett-valuation-indicator | date=4 February 2021 | accessdate=17 February 2021 | first=Jill | last=Minski | website=AdvisorPerspectives | title=Market Cap to GDP: An Updated Look at the Buffett Valuation Indicator}} In 2001, Buffett said: "If the ratio approaches 200%—as it did in 1999 and a part of 2000—you are playing with fire".
• In February 2021, the Price-to-Sales ratio of US stocks hit an all-time high of 2.95×, surpassing its dot.com peak of 2.45× (and the 2009 low of 0.8×).
• In February 2021, the price-to-tangible book ratio of US stocks hit an all-time high of 14×, surpassing its dot-com peak of 9× (and the 2009 low of 3×).
• In February 2021, the US equity put/call ratio, hit 0.40×, almost matching the March 2000 low of 0.39× (a low ratio means investors are very bullish).{{cite magazine | magazine=Forbes | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/02/12/is-the-stock-market-about-to-crash/?sh=3cd9296c71de | title=Is The Stock Market About To Crash? | first=Jonathan | last=Ponciano | date=12 February 2021 | accessdate=14 February 2021}}
• In February 2021, the combined capitalization of the top five stocks in the S&P 500 (being Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla and Facebook) was 21% of the index, surpassing the prior March 2000 peak of 18% (being Microsoft, Cisco, General Electric, Intel and ExxonMobil).
• In February 2021, a record 14 members of the Russell Microcap Index, and a record 302 members of the Russell 2000 Index were larger than the smallest member of the S&P 500 Index.{{cite news | newspaper=Wall Street Journal | date=18 February 2012 | accessdate=20 February 2021 | title=Tiny-Company Boom Makes Markets Look Silly | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiny-company-boom-makes-markets-look-silly-11613666534 | first=James | last=Mackintosh}}

File:Median housing price by metro area.webp

• In November 2020, the Robert J. Shiller cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio for US housing, hit 43.9×, just 3.8% below its all-time record of 45.6× set in 2006.{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-11-13/housing-market-s-p-e-ratio-is-in-the-stratosphere | title=Home Prices Are In a Bubble. Full Stop | date=13 November 2020 | accessdate=13 February 2021 | first=Aaron | last=Brown | author-link=Aaron Brown (journalist)}}

• In January 2021, the total value of cryptocurrencies passed US$1 trillion for the first time in history, with most currencies setting new highs in value.{{cite news | newspaper=Financial Times | url=https://www.ft.com/content/7ac6c3a6-3fed-4dd9-8a69-939ad6094933 | date=12 February 2021 | accessdate=14 February 2021 | first=Robin | last=Wigglesworth | title='Digital tulip' or new asset class? Bitcoin's bid to go mainstream}}
• In February 2021, bitcoin passed US$50,000 per unit for the first time in history.{{cite web | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloombergquint.com/markets/bitcoin-extends-its-rally-to-an-all-time-high-close-to-50-000 | title=Bitcoin Extends Its Rally to an All-Time High Close to $50,000 | first=Joanna | last=Ossinger | date=15 February 2021 | accessdate=16 February 2021}}

• In 2020, a record 248 special-purpose acquisition company (SPACs) raised US$83 billion in new capital at their initial public offering; and by Q1 2021, a further record US$30 billion was raised in a single quarter.{{cite journal | journal=Harvard Business Review | title=The SPAC Bubble Is About to Burst | date=18 February 2021 | accessdate=18 February 2021 | first=Ivana | last=Naumovska | url=https://hbr.org/2021/02/the-spac-bubble-is-about-to-burst}} SPACs are notoriously poor-performing assets, whose returns 3-years after merging are almost uniformly heavily negative; their proliferation is a signal of an economic bubble.{{cite web | website=CNBC | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/10/unusual-first-day-rallies-in-spacs-raise-bubble-concern-every-single-one-of-them-has-gone-up.html | title=Unusual first-day rallies in SPACs raise bubble concern: 'Every single one of them has gone up' | first=Yun | last=Li | date=10 February 2021 | accessdate=18 February 2021}}

• In July 2020, gold futures broke the US$2,000 per ounce level for the first time in history.{{cite web | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-27/silver-futures-extend-gains-to-25-as-gold-at-all-time-high | title=Gold Steadies After Futures Jump to $2,000 for the First Time | date=27 July 2020 | accessdate=14 February 2021 | first1=Elena | last1=Mazneva | first2=Justina |last2=Vasquez | website=Bloomberg}}
• In August 2020, lumber prices, as defined by the CME one-month futures contract, broke the old historic record high of US$651 per thousand board feet, to reach US$1711 in May 2021.{{Cite web |last=Franck |first=Thomas |title=Lumber futures swing 10% in wild session as speculative frenzy ends |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/19/lumber-futures-fall-for-an-eighth-straight-day-as-speculation-that-took-prices-to-a-record-unwinds.html |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=CNBC |date=19 May 2021 |language=en}}

As well as the above asset-level records, a number of individual assets with extreme valuations and extraordinary price increases were identified as being emblematic of the everything bubble:

• Ark Innovation ETF (Ticker:ARKK), American exchange traded fund, and major investor in Tesla and other technology firms.{{cite news | newspaper=Financial Times | url=https://www.ft.com/content/272c56c0-84cb-47f1-ac68-5fd013bed583 | title=Ark's Cathie Wood dismisses bubble talk and Tesla doubters | first=Michael | last=McKenzie | date=11 February 2021 | accessdate=15 February 2021}}{{cite web | magazine=Fortune | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2022/06/14/star-stockpicker-finds-new-crusade-raging-against-the-everything-bubble/?sh=32e715834ad2 | title=Star Stockpicker Finds New Crusade Raging Against The 'Everything Bubble' | date=14 June 2022 | accessdate=8 August 2022 | first=Christopher | last=Helman}}
• Goldman Sachs Non-Profitable US Technology Index, a proprietary index of US technology firms that were loss-making.
• Russell Microcap Index stocks, the smallest listed US stocks where a record number grew in a short period past the size of the smallest S&P 500 stock.
• S&P Clean Energy Index, proprietary index of (mostly) US clean energy firms whose P/E ratio tripled.{{cite news | newspaper=Financial Times | url=https://www.ft.com/content/0a3d0af8-7092-44c3-9c98-a513a22629be | first=Billy | last=Newman | date=19 February 2021 | title='Green bubble' warnings grow as money pours into renewable stocks | accessdate=21 February 2021}}
• Tesla Inc. (Ticker:TSLA), the American electric car manufacturer.{{cite magazine | magazine=Forbes | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelcannivet/2021/01/24/best-bubble-stock-for-2021-zoom-or-tesla/?sh=5ae94976fce2 | title=Best Bubble Stock For 2021: Zoom Or Tesla? | first=Michael | last=Cannivet | date=24 January 2021 | accessdate=15 February 2021}}{{cite news | newspaper=Wall Street Journal | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-everything-bubble-isnt-everything-and-maybe-not-even-a-bubble-11597760181 | title=The 'Everything Bubble' Isn't Everything, and Maybe Not Even a Bubble | first=James | last=Mackintosh | date=18 August 2020 | accessdate=15 February 2021}}{{cite magazine | magazine=Newsweek | url=https://www.newsweek.com/tesla-everything-bubble-embodied-opinion-1529308 | title=Tesla: The Everything Bubble Embodied | first=Vikram | last=Mansharamani | date=3 September 2020 | accessdate=15 February 2021}}

• Criticism of the Federal Reserve
• K-shaped recovery
• Fed model
• Greenspan put
• Stock market bubble

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book | title=The Everything Bubble: The Endgame For Central Bank Policy | date=October 2017 | isbn= 978-1974634064 | first=Graham | last=Summers | publisher=CreateSpace}}
• {{cite book | title=The End of the Everything Bubble: Why $75 trillion of investor wealth is in mortal jeopardy | date=October 2021 | publisher= Harriman House | isbn=978-0857199645 | first=Dr. Alasdair GM| last=Naim | author-link=Edinburgh Partners}}

{{scholia}}

• [https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2015/10/the-everything-bubble The Everything Bubble], (Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair, October 2015)
• [https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-the-potential-upside-when-the-everything-bubble-finally-pops-2019-08-26 Here's the potential upside when the 'Everything Bubble' finally pops] (MarketWatch, August 2019)
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hTj2EkeS5E Implications of the Everything Bubble, Bloomberg TV: Interview with Scott Minerd] (Guggenheim Partners, February 2020)
• [https://www.newsweek.com/tesla-everything-bubble-embodied-opinion-1529308 Tesla: The 'Everything Bubble' Embodied] Vikram Mansharamani (Harvard University, September 2020)
• [https://www.afr.com/markets/equity-markets/the-everything-bubble-is-back-in-business-20201221-p56pcn The 'everything bubble' is back in business] (Australian Financial Review, December 2020)
• [https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/533002-georgia-and-the-everything-market-bubble Georgia and the everything market bubble] (Desmond Lachman, The Hill, January 2021)
• {{cite episode|title=Age of Easy Money|series=FRONTLINE|series-link=Frontline (American TV program)|network=PBS|station=WGBH|date=March 14, 2023|season=41|number=6|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/age-of-easy-money/|access-date=July 12, 2023}}

{{Financial bubbles}}

Category:Monetary policy

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Category:Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

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