John Authers & Isabelle Lee, Columnists

With the US So High, Now’s the Time to Diversify

It’s been a great run over the past 33 years, but back then US stocks were not what they are today — really expensive.

After trouncing the world for decades, US stocks have lost the attraction of being cheap.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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When the Federal Reserve tried to set a hawkish tone after keeping rates unchanged Wednesday, it failed. The European Central Bank did a better job of it. On Thursday, ECB President Christine Lagarde lifted interest rates by another quarter-point to 3.5% — the eighth consecutive increase and the highest level in more than two decades — in line with economists’ expectations. She also made clear that the move probably won’t be the last. Neither a pause nor a skip is on the ECB agenda. It adds to the growing dissonance in central banks’ response to a global inflation problem.