The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that with valuations elevated after two years of spectacular gains, lots of market observers and regular investors alike fear a market crash is in the cards this year. The Globe's Tim Shufelt writes that investors should relax. The stock market is not as terrifying as it is being made out to be. The data show that the bull market is based more on corporate performance rather than a late-1990s-style investor hysteria. Last year, the S&P 500 index of American large-cap companies rose by 18 per cent, after dividends. Almost all of that gain, four-fifths of it anyway, was driven by rising company earnings. U.S. blue chips' profit margin estimates rose to 14.4 per cent by year-end, up from 13.6 per cent at the start of 2025. Companies in the S&P/TSX Composite Index have pushed their profit margins up to 15.6 per cent, from 11.6 per cent six years prior. Canada's big banks have done much of the heavy lifting, along with last year's gold rally. By most measures, trading multiples are high, but still within a reasonable range. All this "underscores the important market truth that valuation is a horrible market-timing tool," said Liz Ann Sonders at Charles Schwab.