The US stock market will stop its charge –perhaps with a sharp shock | Nouriel Roubini

Hopes of a US-China deal, as well as Brexit delays, have cheered investors, but there are risks ahead

Financial markets tend to undergo manic-depressive cycles, and this has been especially true in recent years. During risk-ons, investors - driven by "animal spirits" - produce bull markets, frothiness, and sometimes outright bubbles; eventually, however, they overreact to some negative shock by becoming too pessimistic, shedding risk, and forcing a correction or bear market.

Whereas prices of US and global equities rose sharply throughout 2017, markets began to wobble in 2018, and became fully depressed in the last quarter of the year. This risk-off reflected concerns about a global recession, Sino-American trade tensions, and the Federal Reserve's signals that it would continue to raise interest rates and pursue quantitative tightening. But since this past January, markets have rallied, so much so that some senior asset managers now foresee a market "melt-up" (the opposite of a meltdown), with equities continuing to rise sharply above their current elevated levels.