Valuation headwinds notwithstanding, the world’s money continues to pour into the North American equity space.

The U.S. economy has been growing at an annualized pace of roughly 2% since the current expansion began in June of 2009. Gross Domestic Product for the first half of 2014 hovered around a paltry 1%.

European ETFs have experienced a difficult summer amid a faltering currency and central bank that is scrambling to implement looser monetary policies.

Only 13.3% of respondents to the most recent Investors Intelligence Sentiment Survey described themselves as “bearish.” The contrarian indicator at 13.3% represents the lowest level of bearishness since February 1987.

The SDPR S&P 500 (SPY) barely missed a beat in either 2013 or 2014. U.S. small-caps appear far more vulnerable, and I have precious little exposure to that arena.

Have you studied the history of stocks in the U.S? Most people are aware of the crash in 1929 as well as the capital depreciation that occurred through 1932.