Forget the Stock Market Volatility. The Fundamental Outlook Is Improving.

“One of the underappreciated developments from the first quarter is that the market absorbed a pullback while forward earnings estimates continued to move higher, a rare combination that tells us the fundamental backdrop remains better than the headlines suggest,” writes Mark Hackett, chief markets strategist for Nationwide. Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research, who last week argued that the stock market’s pullback reached its trough on Jan. 27, sees “good value in the stock market at current levels.” The S&P 500’s forward price to earnings ratio peaked at 23 times on Oct, 27, Yardeni writes.