Nervous yet?

One thing to keep in mind is that big, sustained drops in stocks — ones that end bull markets — are most often caused by U.S. recessions, and that doesn’t appear likely soon.

Four of the past five bull markets ended as investors dumped stocks before the start of a recession. They sold stocks two months before the start of the Great Recession in December 2007 and a year before the March 2001 recession.

The U.S. economy has grown between 1-2.5 percent in the past three years. That’s pitiful compared with the long-term average of 3 percent. Still, it’s growth.

— LOW INTEREST RATES: If recessions cause stocks to plummet, what causes recessions? In most cases it’s the Federal Reserve raising short-term interest rates because it fears high inflation from an overheated economy. Fed hikes were the trigger for three of the past four recessions.

But today, the greater fear is too little inflation, not too much. The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation rose only 1 percent in the year through March. The Fed’s target is 2 percent.