The stock market is hitting all-time highs, even as consumer sentiment hits all-time lows. Is this a paradox? Hardly. The confusion stems from people who imagine market prices move off their personal economic experiences (as well as broader consumer sentiment). This is a false belief, easily disproven with a few data points and charts. “ This market makes no sense! ” A similar anomaly occurred during the pandemic . The S&P 500 kept making new all-time highs even as your local economy was faltering. Stores were closing, unemployment was surging, and airlines, hotels, and retailers were going bust. New all-time highs seemingly ignored all of that. The explanation for this was simple, albeit wonky: Your personal economy is local, visible, and “availability-weighted” while the S&P 500 is global, but more importantly, market-cap weighted . 1 Today’s anomaly is similar. As it turns out, psychology matters – just not your psychology .…