Stock prices appear to be making a comeback from their June lows. Will it last?

Stocks had a rough start to 2022. The S&P 500 ended the first half of the year down 20.6% — its worst showing for the first half of a year in more than five decades. But while stocks officially entered a bear market in June, they’ve since rallied.

The S&P 500 marked its third straight weekly gain last week, and the benchmark index is now down just around 14% for the year. Should investors get their hopes up yet?

“We’re not out of the woods yet, but the market seems to sense that better things lie ahead for the economy and for stocks,” says John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer Asset Management.

Here’s what experts say about whether or not this stock market rally will continue.

Investors are getting more optimistic

Investors have been extremely pessimistic in recent months. But when investors get that bearish, there’s room to rally, Stoltzfus says.

And we’re seeing that pessimism turn around. The American Association of Individual Investors’ most recent sentiment survey showed that pessimism among investors about the…

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