As rising shares of artificial-intelligence leader Nvidia and bets on easy money have pushed U.S. stocks to record levels, retail traders have begun to make risky bets after recouping all of their losses from the past two years. The S&P 500 has risen 9% this year, thanks in part to a 72% jump in its top performer, Nvidia, which has the highest weighting in the average retail investor's portfolio at 9.3%. This has helped wipe out all of the losses in the average individual investor's portfolio since the bear market began in 2022, according to Vanda Research. According to Vanda Research, this has helped the average individual investor's portfolio erase all losses since the start of the 2022 bear market.
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