These Hidden Forces Are Driving the Runaway Stock-Market Rally
Bullish options traders and heavy buying of leveraged ETFs are playing a role in the historic swing higher for stocks. They're also being tested.Investors have credited a blockbuster first-quarter earnings season with inspiring the stock market's swift comeback. But that isn't the whole story.The options market may be fueling a runaway rally in stocks that has drawn comparisons to the peak of the dot-com bubble.In theory, trading in stocks and futures markets should be driving activity in the options market. But lately, things have been working the other way around - helping to fuel what has been, by some measures, a historic stock-market comeback after a difficult first quarter.Surging energy prices and worries about accelerating inflation and a potential Federal Reserve interest-rate hike helped drive the S&P 500 SPX to the brink of correction territory in March. Yet over the past seven weeks, stocks have rebounded higher. Despite Friday's tumult, the S&P 500 still cemented a seven
