How can TINA possibly explain the U.S. stock market rally in 2020, when U.S. interest rates before Jan 2020 was < 2.3%?

Many economists refer to TINA to try to explain the rally in U.S. stock market since April 1 2020. Just let me know or edit this post if you know of others.

CD rates has been under 2.3% since Jan 2010. The graph doesn’t show earlier than this.

Fed Funds Rate is below 2.5% since April 2008.

The Federal Reserve slashed interests to 0.1% on March 15 2020, but the aforementioned interest rates are historically pretty teeny. If TINA is true, wouldn’t investors have shifted to buying stocks way earlier? Why would they shift only after Apr 1 2020?

To monitor the final risk, watch the bond market.

“If we were to see another 20 basis point move in yields, that would be bad news,” El-Erian said.

That’s because one of the driving forces behind the equity rally is the idea that “there is no alternative,” frequently referenced by its acronym, TINA. If bond yields move up more meaningfully, that might provide an attractive alternative to stocks.

Here are Mohamed El-Erian’s qualifications.

Education

1985: DPhil economics, University of Oxford
1982: MPhil economics, University of Oxford
1980: BA economics, University of Cambridge