The banking sector’s Q2 results beat expectations, with loan growth outpacing last year by 3%. Value-seekers may find investing in stock market banking shares appealing given rising net interest income. Before you buy stock in Arm Holdings, consider this: These days, stock market valuations (such as the multiple of stock prices to average corporate earnings) are at one of the highest levels in its 230-year history when normalized. Not only have investors come to believe that an “all clear” signal has been announced, many have also embraced the idea that the artificial intelligence boom will turn out to be far more important than the internet and usher in a new golden age of prosperity. In July, the chipmaker Nvidia, the exemplar of the A.I. revolution, rose to a record market valuation of over $4 trillion. Only in the late 1990s and early 2000s was the tech market more richly valued, peaking in March 2000 — by October 2002, it had cratered by almost half. Semiconductor stocks rallied 15% in two weeks, led by Nvidia. Analysts expect chip demand in AI servers to triple by 2026, making it a pivotal sector for risk-tolerant investing in stock market positions.