Bubble watch, anyone?
Citi is out here playing the role of the friend who tells you your outfit looks great but your zipper is down. The bank says global equities are getting stretched to levels not seen since the 2008 financial crisis — which is a fancy way of saying prices may have outrun reality.
Why that matters
When a big bank starts muttering the word “frothy,” investors tend to perk up. Not because one warning magically causes a selloff, but because stretched markets can get extra sensitive to any bad news: a weak earnings print, a hotter inflation read, or one more “we’ll keep rates higher for longer” comment from the Fed.
The vibe check
This doesn’t mean the market is about to face-plant tomorrow. Stocks can stay expensive for a long time — just ask anyone who has tried to call the top and ended up with a calendar full of bad takes. But it does mean the margin for error is thinner, and the easy gains may already be behind you.
Big picture
If Citi is right, the next leg of this market may reward boring things like earnings quality, cash flow, and companies that don’t need a perfect economy to look good. In other words: less moonshot, more seatbelt.