Global markets have posted their largest year-to-date gains since 2009 when markets recovered from the global financial crisis.

The MSCI World Index has gained 16.2% so far this year, compared with 16.9% in 2009, as investor optimism grows over slowing global inflation, the hope of more stimulus from China and the end of the Federal Reserve’s rate hiking cycle.

The rally has occurred just as markets enter the notoriously bad months of August and September, when they have declined on average over the last ten years.

READ: Stocks Are Doing So Well That It May Be Time to Start Worrying