ByBENJAMIN CURRY, US DEPUTY CONSUMER EDITOR
Updated:15:43 EDT, 21 April 2026
Wall Street legendWarren Buffett famously told investorsto be fearful when others are greedy - and right now, the stock market is looking very greedy indeed.
A handy tool named after the legendary investor measures the market’s greed or fear, and this week it’s flashing an urgent warning that stocks are massively overvalued.
The so-called Buffett indicatordivides the total value of all US stocks by the total economic output of the United States, delivering one simple number that sums up how investors are feeling at the moment.
Buffett said that areading of 100 percent suggests markets are in balance- in other words, the stock market is worth about as much as the US economy produces in one year - while a lower figure means stocks are undervalued.
Right now, the index hit its highest reading ever - 232 percent - indicating that stocks are historically overvalued.
Measured by the benchmark S&P 500 index, thestock market has surged a shocking 13 percentsince the end of March thanks to the Iran war ceasefire and oil more than 20 percent off its wartime spike higher.
Right now, the indicator is well above its last two all-time highs: The 219 percent reading seen at the height of the 2021 pandemic stock market frenzy, and the 163 percent level at the 2000 peak of the dot com bubble.
Meanwhile, the latest figures show US economic growth has nearly flatlined - with the entire US economy valued around $31 trillion, up a mere 0.5 percent in the final quarter of 2025.
Source: Drudge Report
