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21 October 2025
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Here's a detailed look at how current valuations and profit forecasts for the S&P 500 stack up versus history. The answer? Both seem excessive, making the market vulnerable to a correction or worse.
For decades, cyclically adjusted P/E ratios have been a common and widely accepted gauge of market valuation. But as the financial landscape continues to evolve, so too must our tools for understanding it.
There are pockets of bubble pricing in some assets that can pop at any time, but overall, valuations are frothy but prices of most companies can be sustained if not hit by rising bond rates.
Sticking to a long-term ‘set and forget’ asset allocation plan forgets those close to or in the retirement phase. Further, we are at a point where prospective returns in all markets are lower.
The widely-used cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio (CAPE) is at historic and relative highs in the US. The co-inventor of CAPE, Robert Shiller, is advising not to give too much weight to US equities.