Last Time the S&P 500 Crossed This Valuation Milestone, the Stock Market Crashed by 49%. Will History Repeat?
The S&P 500 has only been this expensive on one other occasion in the past century.
Overview
Despite some volatility attributable in part to the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) index has still mustered a gain of 8% so far in 2026. Strong gains by technology stocks are offsetting some of the macroeconomic jitters, but history suggests this might not be sustainable for much longer.
Based on one widely followed valuation metric, the S&P 500 has only been this expensive on one other occasion in its entire history, and that was in 2000 at the peak of the dot-com bubble. What followed was one of the steepest declines investors have ever endured, and from the bottom of that trough, it took half a decade for the index to recover and begin setting new highs again. Is history about to repeat itself?
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Originally published at www.fool.com.