Posted on 02/01/2013 12:10:36 PM PST by SeekAndFind
NEW YORK -- The Dow stock market index flirted with the 14,000 line Friday, bringing reminders of the last time it hit that mark almost a different era, before the financial crisis rocked the world economy.
Propelled by reports on U.S. jobs and auto sales, the Dow Jones industrial average crossed the line and kept its ground through the early afternoon, after flitting back and forth throughout the morning. The other major stock indexes also rose.
"There's a newfound enthusiasm for the equity market," said Jim Russell, regional investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.
But market watchers were divided over what the Dow milestone or even what a Dow all-time high, which is quickly approaching really means. To some, it's an important booster to hearts and minds, making investors feel optimistic and thus more willing to bet on the market.
"The Dow touching 14,000, it matters psychologically," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York. "It attracts smaller investors."
And smaller investors, until the past few weeks, had been shying away from stocks. In the past three weeks, though, billions have flowed into mutual funds targeting U.S. stocks, according to the Investment Company Institute. Before that, investors had been pulling more cash from U.S. stock funds than they'd deposited for every month since April 2011.
To others, though, the Dow 14,000 is nothing but a number on a board, a sign more of how traders feel than how the economy is faring. And even then, it's not even the best number on the board, some traders say. Professional investors usually pay more heed to the Standard & Poor's main index, which tracks 500 companies compared to the Dow 30. The Dow, however, is more familiar to the general public.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Yeah, but it’s only 9,000 in 2007 dollars.
Legend has it that when the average Joe gets excited and starts buying, it’s time to hit the exits.
I played around with individual stocks. Made a few bucks, but I realized, the market reacts to things I’ll never know about, and it’s often counter intuitive in regard to the news of the day. It’s a rigged game.
I’m out, except for my 401k.
October 2007 the month I should have gone to cash.
October 2007 the month I should have gone to cash or gold.
My stock broker was on Millionaire.....,
Bush’s fault
This explains why gas is going up. You can tell it is a fascist market when unemployment goes up, yet news of new government jobs inspires the market.
A lot of people are going to take a big hit.
“Before that, investors had been pulling more cash from U.S. stock funds than they’d deposited for every month since April 2011.”
Little news on this either, for over two years.
The stock market isn’t going up because average Joes are buying; it is going up because 1) it is priced in inflated dollars and 2) because the best way to drive up a stock’s price is to lay off thousands of American workers and replace them with Asian slaves. Take the indicators that a strong stock market used to reflect for our country, and now apply it to the world. Labor costs are falling, but that is bad news for every American (and great for Asia).
What I'm witnessing is UNBELIEVABLE to say the least. The market RISES while many a COMPANY reports EARNINGS are DOWN. The UNEMPLOYMENT and DEBT situation continues to WORSEN while the Government keeps reporting BOGUS numbers and saying things are getting better, all the while IGNORING warnings by its own GAO. ( General Accounting Office )
I believe the lesson that is prevailing is that we ONLY LEARN when we have to run through the fire and get our a$$ burned.
I may have just heard some famous last words spoken on CNBC an hour ago... "What a rally today folks!"
With the "folks" in there it sounds like a Bartiromo line.
If it is one should fade her in a big way.
Last time she used "folks" in a sentence like that it was "Maybe folks should SHORT this market". That was at S&P 666.
Fade of the century. Could well be famous last words.
“Powerball jackpot hits 14,000 - get your tickets today!”
And the yen’s crash seems to have something to do with this last heroic (not) gasp.
I find it very disturbing that Americans who have missed 6 mortgage payments still think the rising stock market is a good indicator that their lot in life is improving; then again, I had the same people tell me that Iran was the biggest factor in the previous election.
Americans are dumb as rocks (just in case the last 2 elections didn’t convince you of this).
Buy low, sell high. Works every time.
And this article is from 2009 - it's even worse now.
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