The V-Shaped Recovery Nobody Expected: What’s Fueling the 2025 Stock Market Boom?

AI stocks, falling dollar, fiscal stimulus, deregulation hopes drive equity surge in historic six-month run and may also drive the next leg of the bull market.

Image Credit: ChatGPT

At the midpoint of 2025, Wall Street is basking in fresh all-time highs, closing out a blistering six months that redefined investor expectations and shattered prior assumptions about recovery timelines. The benchmark index S&P 500 surged past the psychological 6,200 level, while the Nasdaq Composite ended June at record-setting highs—an outcome few could have predicted amid the economic anxieties that loomed just one quarter earlier.