Animal Spirits: All-Time Highs Should Feel Better Than This

Posted December 17, 2025 by Ben Carlson

Today’s Animal Spirits is brought to you by YCharts and Vanguard:

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On today’s show, we discuss:

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Charts:

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Tweets/Bluesky

Cyclical sectors are leading the breakout list.

For the first time since July, financials, industrials, and technology simultaneously saw at least 10% of their stocks hit 52-week highs. pic.twitter.com/HArlcmtDlI

— Turning Point Market Research (@TPMRSignals) December 12, 2025

The U.S. unemployment rate, at 4.6% in November, is now up half a percentage point over the last five months. In 77 years of data, the number of times that's occurred outside a recession can almost be counted on one hand—1951, 1952, 1956, 1986, 1991-92 and 2003

— Matthew B (@boes_) December 16, 2025

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