If 2017 has had a surreal feel to it, it is because it has so far been a "perfect encapsulation of 8-year QE-led bull market" according to BofA's chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett, a "bull market" which has turned financial logic and fundamental economic relationships on their head, and replaced everything with copious money creation as the only marginal price setter. 

What are the characteristics of this "bull market": Hartnett describes them as i) Lower-than-expected rates, ii) higher-than-expected EPS, iii) non-existent inflation = big cyclical returns for asset prices (e.g., EAFE equities & industrial metals); but thematic leadership of "scarce growth" (e.g., tech stocks) & "scarce yield" (high yield and EM debt) which remains the heart of the bull.