The S&P 500 index has not seen a 5% pullback for over 100 trading days

The U.S. stock market is leading investors into a one-way upward trend, with the S&P 500 index not experiencing a 5% pullback for 114 consecutive trading days.

As of the time of publication, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures are both up 0.3%. If this trend continues, the two indices are expected to set a record for the longest consecutive gains since July. Strategists at ING noted that Friday's non-farm payroll report is expected to be "stillborn" due to the U.S. government shutdown, which actually helps to suppress market volatility. There are also views suggesting that the current state of the labor market may not be as weak as this week's ADP employment data suggests.

Bank of America strategist Michael Hartnett stated that one investment strategy to cope with the artificial intelligence boom is the "barbell strategy"—balancing the extreme valuation differences by combining undervalued cyclical assets with overvalued tech assets. Positive factors driving market enthusiasm this week include: Global Infrastructure Partners is in deep negotiations to acquire Aligned Data Centers, and OpenAI continues to announce new collaboration projects. PitchBook data shows that venture capital firms have invested $192.7 billion in AI startups this year, setting a global record