S&P 500 P/E Valuation

1. Has Quantitative Easing and Operation Twist affected the P/E valuation of the S&P 500?

2. If so, what would be a way to take (QE & OT) away to make the S&P 500 P/E on a true relative basis from previous years?

3. It's the general assumption that the QEs have driven the stock market higher, and still is only 17.96 PE Ratio (http://www.multpl.com/) , would taking away the affects of the Fed make equities actually cheaper than 17.96?

I would appreciate anyone's logic behind their reasoning.

2 Comments
 
Best Response

1) Yes - look up "search for yield" on google and you'll get tons of articles. Basically the Fed buys up all fixed income products and pushes us to invest in equities more than we'd normally want to.

2) There really isn't a way - The only other developed country that went through a serious QE program was Japan in 2001. We're basically playing with an untested economic theory.

Any answer would be an extremely complicated to say the least - without good data any statistical model has limited usefulness

3) Yes - If the fed never provided more liquidity to the markets in 2008 we would be much worse off. Problem is the fed has been building a huge balance sheet and most people don't really question when the Fed is going to stop - that basically forces to Fed to continue.

They probably should've given a strict deadline for when to dump assets because its ruining the true signal that stock prices gave. Plus the yield curve, one of the most important indicators, is so flat it's a useless tool now.

 

Nihil unde pariatur laudantium beatae magnam itaque. Mollitia dolore placeat totam blanditiis id amet. Impedit eos asperiores magni dolor. At quia sed ut vitae praesentium fugiat ducimus aliquid.

Praesentium ut et commodi aliquid maxime. Eum perferendis beatae autem aut eos. Dolores nulla quas neque incidunt eligendi qui similique. Omnis debitis soluta repellat vitae natus sunt dolore. Id eaque facere eum rerum. Repellendus maxime maxime atque voluptatibus.

Vel suscipit sit ab voluptatem dignissimos asperiores dolor. Natus et ducimus atque aut eum. Quis alias omnis dolor esse. Sit a voluptates quas eius. Voluptatibus odit ut omnis omnis.

Esse nihil tenetur eos veniam eaque accusamus. Qui dignissimos dolor pariatur. Aut itaque ipsam modi repellendus.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Millennium Partners 95.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (86) $288
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (77) $191
  • Analysts (242) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (282) $96
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”