excerpts:
Mark Gongloff
Posted: 03/05/2013 10:59 am EST | Updated: 03/05/2013 11:27 am EST
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
The best-known stock-market average in the world is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, that matters less than it ever has.
A new high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average is an important milestone on the road to recovery, no doubt. The stock index has more than doubled from its low in March 2009, making this one of the strongest bull markets in history. At the same time, regular people have hardly benefited.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 130 points to about 14,250 on Tuesday morning, on track to break its previous high close of 14,164.53 set on Oct. 9, 2007. After more than five years, at least one stock-market index has finally erased the memory of the financial crisis and Great Recession.
Other, broader market measures still have a ways to go. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was still about 30 points away from its record high of 1565.15, also set on Oct. 9, 2007. And the tech-stock-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was at about 3215, still light years away from its record high of 5048.62, set on March 10, 2000, back in its dot-com glory days.
It should matter. Here's why: The fact that the government couldn't get a deal worked out before the date of sequestration sent a loud and clear message to Wall Street. Unfortunately for us, the message is, "Don't worry about corporations paying their fair share, it's full speed ahead!"
I think you got that right!Originally Posted by N.U.
Just thinking here for a minute... does this mean that portfolios are back to where they were on December 31, 2007:
Dow Jones Industrial Average Closes At Record High
AP | Posted: 03/05/2013 4:02 pm EST | Updated: 03/05/2013 5:52 pm EST
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
In this run-up, nearly all the buying has come from companies repurchasing their own stock in an effort to boost its value. Companies in the S&P 500 have bought $1.5 trillion since the Great Recession began in December 2007.
Dow records are dismissed by some investors as unimportant because the index comprises just 30 stocks. Many professional investors prefer to follow the S&P 500, which, as the name implies, tracks 500 companies. But the Dow has closely followed the ups and downs of its broader rival over the years, and is a good proxy for how big companies are doing.
The Dow record does not include the impact of inflation. Adjusted for that, the Dow would have to reach 15,502 to match its old record.
The Standard and Poor's 500, a broader index, closed at 1,539.79, 25.36 points from its record.
The last time the Dow hit a record, George W. Bush still had another year as president, Apple had just sold its first iPhone, and Lehman Brothers was still in business.
But unemployment was also 4.7 percent versus 7.9 percent today, a reminder that stock gains have proved no elixir for the economy.
Still, the Dow high is another sign that the nation is slowly healing after the worst recession since the 1930s. It comes as car sales are at a five-year high, home prices are rising, and U.S. companies continue to report big profits.
The stock gains have helped retirement and brokerage accounts held by many Americans recover. That, in turn, has helped push U.S. household wealth nearly back to its peak before the recession, though many in the middle class are still deep in the hole. Most middle-class wealth is tied up in home values, which are still a third below their peak.
From its peak in October 2007 to its bottom in March 2009, the Dow fell 54 percent. That was far less than the nearly 90 percent drop in the Great Depression but scary nonetheless. There had been 11 previous bear markets since World War II and none had reached 50 percent.
Doesn't seem to be. I watch the Dow go up and my meager portfolio go down.
INSANITY IS NOT A PLEA. IT'S A WAY OF LIFE.
Some hearty knaves and simple fools,
Some apish and pragmatic mules,
Some servile acquiescing fools,
These, these comprise a congress.
When Jove resolved to send a curse,
And all the woes of life rehearse,
Not plague, not famine, but much worse,
He cursed us with a congress.
from the Revolutionary War
You're stuff is likely to be companies that are in other indices, like the S&P 500, or the Wilshire 5000.
Do you own stock in these DOW companies:
3M Co Alcoa Inc American Express Co AT&T Inc Bank of America Corp Boeing Co Caterpillar Inc Chevron Corp Cisco Systems Inc E. I. du Pont de Nemours Exxon Mobil Corp General Electric Co Hewlett-Packard Co Home Depot Inc Intel Corp International Business Machines Johnson & Johnson JPMorgan Chase and Co McDonald's Corp Merck & Co Inc Microsoft Corp Pfizer Inc Procter & Gamble Co The Coca-Cola Co Travelers Companies Inc United Technologies Corp UnitedHealth Group Inc Verizon Communications Inc Wal-Mart Stores Inc Walt Disney Co
False bottoms that act like sinkholes! Only the wiser will finally catch on. Good luck
I Bring a Backbone of FirePower for Potential Peace ~ Scout****************************************************************************
**The Joke is On Us True Progressives**
6/12 - Romney's record at Bain "Sterling"~ praised Bill Clinton
From 'the President's Club':
*After Nixon died, Clinton compared the death with the loss of his mother
*Clinton came to rely on Nixon’s advice
*Nixon ingratiated himself with so many of his successors, particularly Mr. Clinton.
*George H.W. Bush’s ... relationship with Bill Clinton has grown so close
*Clinton is now referred to in the Bush family as the “Brother From Another Mother”
*Mr. Clinton / George W. Bush, who have become unexpectedly close and also worked on joint endeavors
Otoh, if you bought into the market for the first time in 2009, you may have doubled your money.
I've gained $10,000 in the last couple of weeks in my retirement account. I could lose $10,000 or more tomorrow.
DemocraticWarrior is not a registered Political Action Committee, nor is it a registered Non-Profit Organization. Donations to DemocraticWarrior are not tax-deductible for federal income tax purposes.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks