Markets mixed but “nothing can stop this market”

Markets were mixed on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent but the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2 percent.

Elsewhere, the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.5 percent and the Nikkei 225 fell 0.8 percent but the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4 percent.

Wednesday's fall notwithstanding, a CNBC report noted that the US stock market has made its best start to a year in 31 years and this spells even more gains for the rest of 2018.

“With a 6.1 percent year to date gain and just three down days in the fifteen trading days of 2018, nothing can seemingly stop this market in 2018,” wrote analysts at Bespoke Investment Group on Wednesday.

However, Max Wolff, chief economist at The Phoenix Group, told CNBC that the stock market rally has been just a “string of sugar highs” but “a longer sustainable run has been elusive”.

“My guess is the second half of 2018, you start having to pay for it, some of this partying is going to produce more hangover than bliss,” added Wolff.