u/DoctorNezuko

After over 3 years of not seeing a pay increase, the NIH has announced that IRTAs will be seeing an increase come July. CPI Inflation in that time has totaled 8.6% according to the USBLS. After reviewing the numbers, the increase is about 1%. Afterwards we get an email from the union gloating about how the increase was better than they expected. Is this supposed to be some sort of joke? A 1% increase after over 3 years of no change feels more like an insult.

This is not just a "why is the market up despite the war" question. Between the first of the year and the Feb 27th, the S&P500 index was relatively flat, only showing a 0.3% increase over the two months time. Now we are up 3.8% YTD. Even though things are looking actually positive on the war front and the market has for the most part "priced it in", I am curious what changed while the war has been going on that has put an end to the relatively flat growth we were seeing before the war started? Were stocks just too over-valued going into the year and the war gave the time needed for profits to catch up to their valuations or something?