‘It’s a great, great time for bulls’: Soft-landing views solidify in U.S. stock market

After more than a year of back-and-forth debate over whether the world’s largest economy could slip into a downturn, investors are settling into the surprising conclusion that the U.S. can manage to dodge one.

Thursday’s stronger-than-expected second-quarter GDP report — accompanied by a decline in jobless benefit claims last week, a jump in durable-goods orders in June, and the real-estate industry’s declaration that the housing recession is over — is translating into more optimism than previously seen during the current cycle. The data comes after the annual headline rate...