The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that it has been a wild six months, yet the stock market continues to march merrily along. The Globe's Ian McGugan writes that during that patch, Washington launched a global trade war, the real war in Ukraine blazed with undiminished ferocity and Israel ignited a new war against Iran. Stock markets, though, see no evil. In Canada, the United States and Europe, benchmark stock indexes are up between 4 and 8 per cent since January. The S&P/TSX Composite Index, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are all at or near record highs. Despite all the nasty stuff that happened in the first half of the year, corporate earnings held up just fine. Not everyone is convinced. One troubling sign is the popularity of gold, the ultimate haven asset. If things are so great, why are so many people buying bullion? And if the world's largest economy is booming, why are so many people bailing on the greenback? For now, bond markets seem to be shouldering the burden without complaint, but gold's lofty price and the downward course of the U.S. dollar suggest that confidence in Washington's fiscal management is slipping. Mr. McGugan says the next six months -- and beyond -- could prove interesting.