Why the stock market keeps rising despite coronavirus fears

Despite growing fears about the toll of the coronavirus on global economic growth, traders still seem happy to purchase stocks on days following selloffs — frequently citing the adage that there is no alternative to U.S. stocks, as most other assets provide a negligible return.

What they're saying: “The playbook has worked extremely well and it’s one that I’ve deployed, which is [to] rely on central bank injections because the marketplace believes that liquidity can decouple us from fundamentals for a very long time,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser for Allianz, said during his CNBC interview.

• “Everyone seems conditioned to behave this way. But it assumes the shock is temporary, containable and reversible. Those are phrases that are very hard to associate with coronavirus.”

Go deeper:

• Coronavirus fears slam the stock market
• China's stocks plunge to 1-year low as coronavirus cases soar
• Coronavirus fears start to weigh on global business, stock markets