How financial markets turned upside down in 2019

Weak data used to send stocks down but the promise of never-ending cheap money from central banks means the only way is up

With one day of trading to go, 2019 is on course to be one of the strongest in the history of financial markets after shares around the world racked up record after record in another barnstorming year.

On Wall Street the Dow Jones industrial average has gone up almost 25% having reached record highs day after day, while the broader S&P500 is up 30% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq has grown 40% in value. The FTSE100 in London is close to its record high, as is the Dax30 in Germany. In the Asia Pacific, the Nikkei is up 15% while Australia's ASX200 is still close to its highest ever point (reached in November).

Related: It's more than a decade since the financial crisis. Where's the recovery? | Larry Elliott

Australia's stock market is within 0.2% of an all-time high. Might get there today. So excited

Related: 'Amazing deal' or 'capitulation'? Why the US-China trade truce may not last

Recession gets priced out by a stock rally for the record books. Very big years in markets rarely come right before recessions. Research finds stock returns lead S&P earnings by a quarter. https://t.co/pm0AfIWXze pic.twitter.com/sMqXjTLxH1