Stock Market Roars Back: Too Late to Buy Now?

When the market pulls back, the buyers are few and the sellers are in control. That’s until stocks stage a comeback and the pundits all say, “I told you so,” even though they never actually told you so.

This helps to explain why great investors like Warren Buffett always have some stock positions. Sure, Berkshire Hathaway raised a lot of cash before the first-quarter 2025 market correction. Yet, Buffett and Berkshire still held millions of shares of various stocks throughout the quarter.

The point is that holding an all cash position and trying to time the exact bottom of a market downturn isn’t a winning strategy. No one has a crystal ball and nobody should expect to catch the bottom of a stock correction. We’re all human beings and it’s fine to be imperfect.

So now, folks who missed out on the recent broad-market rally are surely feeling regretful and possibly resentful. They succumbed to the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that the legacy media spreads on a daily basis, especially when there’s a scary story that will get lots of attention.

And all the while, the current presidential administration served as a perfect scapegoat for those scary stories. The trade war was supposed to drag on forever, economies would crumble, and nations would sink into panic and pandemonium by now.

The actual outcome, as we just learned, was that China blinked in the trade war and offered concessions to the U.S. Moreover, China’s government is advancing overtures to the U.S., with Beijing considering ways to put an end to reciprocal tariffs that have only been in place for a couple of months.

Courtesy: Yahoo Finance

And just like that, the major stock market indexes have recaptured the losses that began on Liberation Day, when the reciprocal tariffs officially went into effect. China’s commerce secretary declared that the “door is open” – but is the door closed for stock investors now?

It’s not quite a feeling of FOMO or fear of missing out. Rather, today’s stock investors might feel a sense of regret that they already missed out. It’s obvious that stocks would recover quickly, but only in hindsight.

The best approach right now, first of all, is to consider that the market isn’t out of the woods yet. For example, Apple just said it expects to face a $900 million headwind in the current quarter. Apple CEO Tim Cook also disclosed that the company is preparing to source the majority of its iPhones sold in the U.S. from India this quarter.

In a similar vein, Amazon stated that its future results may be “materially affected by many factors,” including “recessionary fears.” CEO Andy Jassy observed “some heightened buying in certain categories that may indicate stocking up in advance of any potential tariff impact.”

Courtesy: @biancoresearch

Nevertheless, even if private businesses understand that the economy isn’t out of the woods yet, the stock market is highly efficient and forward-looking. Any signs of a future recovery will prompt stock traders to leap-frog over each other, trying to be first movers as they position themselves for the eventual rebound.

Then, the rebound expectations become self-fulfilling as confidence begets confidence in the financial markets. Stock prices head higher on hopes that might go unfulfilled, just as the market cratered on fears that never actually materialized.

Really, none of these sudden sentiment shifts should bother you if you’ve had a solid plan in place all along. Your role isn’t to time the markets, since it’s impossible to succeed in that task.

Warren Buffett isn’t a market timer, but he’s a terrific stock picker. If you’re a fraction as good as he is, then you should build wealth reliably over the long run. And there’s no doubt that he’ll hold stocks during the up moves and the down moves of the markets – he won’t lose any sleep tonight, and you shouldn’t either.