It took the better part of a decade for Americans to warm to a stock rally that has created $20 trillion in wealth. Could it take just one brutal quarter and a trade war to undo their trust?
For individuals who spent the first part of the year bailing from one of the best rallies ever, the answer has often seemed like yes. Bruised by a fourth-quarter rout and made dizzy by months like May, they’ve pulled $135 billion from mutual funds and ETFs and sent most of the cash to fixed income.
