Perhaps what’s got Musk and other CEOs so on edge is the uncertainty surrounding the market over the past year-plus.
Wall Street predictions are notoriously difficult, but people aren’t even willing to stick with one for very long nowadays.
Earlier this month, famed economist Mohamed El-Erian estimated that the consensus on whether the US economy will fall into a recession has changed six times in the past 15 months.
All of that flip-flopping tends to make decisions difficult for executives. It’s one thing if you know things are shaping up to be bad or good. But when no one seems to have any idea what’s going on, what do you do?
Earnings reports from Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon next week will provide some clues about where executives’ heads are regarding hot topics like AI and the strength of the consumer.
Of course, one group seems more decisive about the market: everyday investors.
A record 58% of American households now hold stocks, according to a recent Fed survey.
Of course, that might not be a good thing. The last time such a large share of American families invested in the stock market was in 2007, right before the Great Financial Crisis.
