Stocks have set new highs, because so many on Wall Street are following age-old advice: Don’t fight the Fed.

Traders who bet on these things have been expecting up to one full percentage point of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in the next year, starting with either a quarter- or half-point move this month, after ever more emphatic hints that looser monetary policy is imminent. Because falling rates tend to be good for stocks, it’s easy to see why many people are bullish.

But as evidence accumulates that economic growth may be slowing more rapidly than the Fed had expected, investors might want to reconsider whose side to be on in the fight between the Fed and a possible recession.

“The Fed is getting pretty far behind the curve,” said Rob Arnott, chairman of the investment advisory service Research Affiliates. “The bottom line is the Fed can make a difference, but it has to move fast. I don’t know if it can move fast enough.”