When Alan Greenspan gave his famous testimony to Congress and questioned whether the U.S. was in a stock market bubble characterized by "irrational exuberance," the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 6,437. That level on Dec. 5, 1996 had climbed 24 percent over the previous year and nearly doubled in three years. It would double again before the next major bear market began in 2,000.
Now that we are back at that level of 13 years ago, does anyone feel irrational or any exuberance about the stock market or the economy?