S & P 500 hits New High. Here is the amount of European and Chinese stocks at the forefront

But while investors can fully feel again after watching their portable portfolios, there is sorry for what they missed – or what could be.

For example, where will the S&P 500 will be today if Trump Wall Street does not shock with a more severe tariff?

At the end of 2024, many predictors of Wall Street expected that the wide market index would rise to 7000 this year or the completion of that threshold, and they build in two consecutive years by more than 20 %.

At that time, the “American exceptional” idea in the global economy and financial markets remained the dominant narration, as investors focused more on Trump’s tax cuts and abolishing restrictions from customs tariffs. This contradicts the views of more recession in Europe and increased slowdown in China.

Quickly forward to this day, the scenario has turned. Investors plowed capital in foreign markets, especially after “Tahrir Day” in early April. The US dollar index decreased by 10 % this year as investors no longer see America as exceptional and doubt in the state of safe infiltration of Greenback.

At the same time, Europe and China are looking for ways to enhance growth and compensate for expected withdrawals from weakest exports to the United States

Europe looks forward to ways to cancel the organization and plan a large dose of financial stimulation in the form of more defensive spending. This is with the rush of NATO allies to reinforcing it amid Trump’s demands for further participation in the burden, fears of Russian aggression, and doubts about the American security shield.

China, Trump’s highest goal, launched more financial motivation and pledged to increase support to consumers, as Beijing seeks to turn its economy towards domestic demand and away from the growth directed towards export. Meanwhile, China’s gains in artificial intelligence as it becomes clear from the amazing progress of Deepseek to ascending.

These axes of politics have fueled the stocks that have greatly overcome the American markets.

The DAX stock market index in Germany has increased by 20 % so far, and the MSCI EUROPE stock index increased by 21 %. Other European indexes have made more modest gains but still outperform the United States, with the rise of FTSE 100.

In China, the Hong Seng Index in Hong Kong increased by 21 % this year, and ISHARES MSCI China ETF increased by 18 %. (But the Shanghai index has only won 2 % so far in 2025.)

For its part, the S&P 500 is now 5 % this year. This is after Trump put his most aggressive introductory prices and reached commercial deals with the United Kingdom and China. Meanwhile, corporate profits were held, inflation readings did not rise, and some policy makers in the field of federal reserves pushed the previous price discounts.

But the restoration of the American stock market is also based on hope as much as the actual results. Investors hope that the trade war will not escalate again, and inflation remains under examination, and profits can pass, and the economy does not lead to stagnation – not to mention tension in the Middle East, which raises a wider struggle.

It is still possible that the S&P 500 could still reach those optimistic predictions that Wall Street watched before Trump’s trade war. But the main question for investors is whether American stocks can return to the long -term performance on other markets.