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 a variety of

perspectives, I'll be talking about the latest trends in the financial marketplace.

It's Tuesday, January 26 at 11.30 a.m. in New York.

So let's get after it.

With 2021 off to a fast start for equities, the market seemed to be taking out a little different complexion.

In a word, it's become more speculative.

Greed has overcome fear in a way that I've only witnessed a few times in my 30-year

career.

By the way, when such periods arise, it's rarely been easier wise to try and get in the way.

Such trends typically need to run their course and exhaust themselves.

It's remarkable to think that we could be in such a trend during a global pandemic when half

the economy is still shut down for most countries.

However, it's also precisely the reason why it's happening.

As we've stated many times, it's the health crisis nature of this recession that has led to the

greatest monetary and fiscal policy response in history.

Never before has the Fed printed so much money in such a short period of time.

More specifically, the Fed's balance sheet is currently expanding at the rate of 72% on a year-of-a-year basis.

To put that into context, the Fed's balance sheet growth never exceeded 22% during the

great financial crisis.

Secondly, the government is providing fiscal spending like we've never seen before either.

As noted in last week's thoughts on the market, we've lost about $350 billion in wages and income

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