So far this year, stocks have been driven higher by signs that the U.S. economy is becoming healthier as it continues to recover from the Great Recession. “There’s pent-up demand. Really, if you look at the stock market, it’s been relatively flat for a long period of time,” said Bruce Rader, an assistant professor of finance at Temple’s Fox School of Business. “We’re just at the highs we did in the early 2000s. I think we’re going to be able to move upward, because it’s basically catch up.”