The US economic policy uncertainty index hit its highest level in history, how did the market perform following previous spikes? Following the 2020 uncertainty surge, the S&P 500 rallied +63.3% over the next 12 months. The second-highest return was seen after February 2009 when the market gained +50.3%. On the other hand, in the wake of economic policy uncertainty spikes in 2001 and 2008, the market dropped -17.0% and -9.4%, respectively. In most occurrences, however, the S&P 500 saw double-digit returns within a year. High policy uncertainty usually provides long-term buying opportunities.