No fear of heights anymore! Bank of America survey: S&P 500 is just one step away from its historical high, but concerns about high valuation have fallen to a new low since 2019.

According to the April global fund manager survey released by Bank of America on Tuesday, investors' concerns about the valuation of US stocks have dropped to the lowest level since February 2019, indicating a shift in the anxiety over high-priced stocks that has persisted for many years. Survey by Bank of America: Investors are enduring high valuations The survey shows that a net percentage of 64% of respondents believe that US stock valuations are too high. While this reading is still high, the extreme pessimism that has dominated fund managers' outlook in recent years has noticeably subsided. At the same time, the S&P 500 index has fully recovered the losses caused by geopolitical conflicts (such as the Iran situation) and is currently only about 1% below the historical high of 7000 points set on January 28. This change indicates that some of the excessive valuation concerns accumulated over the past few years are gradually dissipating due to geopolitical conflicts and the environment of "higher and longer" borrowing costs. Throughout most of this economic cycle, US stocks have been seen as crowded, expensive, and difficult to justify from a valuation perspective against the backdrop of the artificial intelligence boom. At the beginning of this year, optimism about corporate earnings helped Wall Street rebound from the Greenland crisis, leading to a rebound in the stock market. On January 28, the S&P 500 index touched a historical new high of 7002.28 points intraday, crossing from 6000 points to 7000 points in just 14 months, the second fastest thousand-point leap in history. Trump's "tone-setting": Geopolitical easing aids in reshaping valuations The change in market sentiment is directly related to the easing of geopolitical tensions. US President Trump stated in an interview on the 14th that the conflict with Iran was "close to an end." When asked about the topic of "ending the war" mentioned earlier, Trump responded, "I think (the conflict with Iran) is close to an end. Yes, I mean, I think it's very close to an end." Trump's statement boosted market optimism and helped restore stability in global energy prices. In addition, after two consecutive days of decline, optimism about the end of the US-Iran conflict through negotiations has reignited, easing concerns about inflation. Iran and US delegations may restart negotiations later this week in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. The US-Iran delegation began negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan on the 11th and ended on the morning of the 12th without reaching any agreement. Iran stated that the negotiations were in an atmosphere of "distrust and suspicion," with differences on two or three important issues. The US side said that they have clearly stated their "red lines," but Iran does not accept the US conditions.