Welcome to Thoughts on the Market.

I'm Mike Wilson, Chief Investment Officer and Chief U.S. Equity Strategist for Morgan

Stanley.

Along with my colleagues bringing you a variety of perspectives, I'll be talking about

the latest trends in the financial marketplace.

It's Monday, June 28th at 11.30 a.m. in New York, so let's get after it.

Over the past year, the primary risk faced by companies centered on how to survive the

sharpest economic downturn in 90 years.

Upon reflection has been an incredible economic achievement when companies were able to

do over the past year with almost the entire labor force working from home.

The star of the show is the digital infrastructure which performs remarkably well.

An aggregate the U.S. economy surpassed its pre-COVID peak last quarter, just nine months after

the trough of the recession.

Profits returned to peak even faster, with many companies feeling no effects of the recession

at all.

In fact, essential businesses and technology enablers thrived, often achieving an acceleration

in pre-COVID sales trends.

This was a company by record profitability as labor and other costs were simultaneously

removed.

Now with the economic recovery from COVID in full bloom, companies and investors are forced

to face different questions.

First, how will consumers spend their money going forward?

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