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You can't beat Dow Jones stocks for stability and defense in a down market. By the same token, the blue chip average won't always keep up in a rising market.Case in point: equities are having a strong 2023, with the S&P 500 delivering a price gain of 15% for the year-to-date through November 10. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which is both riskier and "growthier," soared 32% over the same span. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, by comparison, is very much lagging the pack. The elite bastion of 30 mostly mature industry leaders delivered a comparatively poky price gain of 3.4%...

One more symptom of the problems caused by Washington policies.

Major U.S. stock indexes recovered considerable ground on Thursday to end higher, despite stumbling early in the session after Russia launched a military assault on Ukraine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 0.28% flipped positive in the final 15 minutes of trade, adding about 90 points, or 0.3%, to end near 33,222. The S&P 500 SPX, 1.49% gained 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, 3.34% booked a 3.3% gain. The rally came as oil prices CL00, 1.38% climbed and bond yields tumbled, putting the 10-year Treasury rate below 2%. Investors attributed the turnaround for stocks partly to President Joe...

U.S. stock-index futures were headed sharply lower Monday evening as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the deployment of troops to separatist areas within Ukraine, after recognizing their independence, a move that some fear puts Ukraine and Russia one step closer to military conflict. Markets in the U.S. were closed in observance of Presidents Day and trade on Tuesday will provide the first opportunity for investors to react to developments in Eastern Europe.

Stocks fell sharply Thursday afternoon after a Bloomberg report that President Joe Biden is hoping to hike the capital gains rate to as much as 43.4%, sounding an alarm for investors concerned over the potential toll on trading profits. As of 2:10 p.m. Eastern, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 368 points, or 1.1%, to 33,770, erasing a 0.9% rally Wednesday and pushing the index deeper into negative territory for the week. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq also fell about 1.1% apiece, putting each of the major indexes on track for a third day of losses this...

Despite tanking 35% within weeks at the height of pandemic uncertainty in February and March, the Dow Jones Industrial Average–a key U.S. stock market index measuring the performance of 30 large-cap companies–has hit a historic milestone, reaching 30,000 points on Tuesday for the first time ever. The Dow reached the threshold just minutes before 11:30 a.m. EST on Tuesday amid market bullishness fueled by blowout earnings, coronavirus vaccine optimism and fading uncertainty in Washington as President-elect Joe Biden formally begins his transition to the White House. Leading the Dow's gains this year are many firms representative of the pandemic market–including...

The Dow soared to a record high Monday after Moderna (MRNA) became the latest major drug-maker to announce upbeat data for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, building on hopes that an effective inoculation will soon be available. The Dow rose more than 450 points, or 1.5%, topping its previous record intraday high of 29,933.83 from Nov. 9. The S&P 500 also increased, while the Nasdaq hugged the flat line. Shares of airlines, cruise lines, hotels, and restaurant companies surged anew as the latest vaccine data suggested consumers might return more enthusiastically to these businesses. Moderna’s stock jumped more than 9% to...

Welcome to the weekend calculating Day 216 of the Dictatorship of COVID-19 where crisis leads to authoritarian government unquestioned and unchecked even by elections... New Zealand's dictator on two counts-COVID-19 and firearms-winning big in terms of her country's politics with almost half of the popular vote. Jacinda Ardern's Labor Party looking at a majority in its own right in the 120 seat parliament..... Donald J. Trump Dow Jones 30,000, Joe Biden Dow Jones 15,000, Anthony Fauci Dow Jones 7,500 Ever look at the political situation that way. I looked by my quarterly statement retirement investments last week and my dad...

Another astounding market rally, another big chunk of good market news ABC’s, CBS’s and NBC’s evening news shows censor because it isn’t anti-Trump.

US equities traded higher on Monday as investors blocked out rising coronavirus case counts and focused on positive housing-market data. Pending home sales shot 44.3% higher in May, the National Association of Realtors announced Monday. The reading trounced the median economist estimate of 19.3%, according to Bloomberg. The association's metric now sits at 99.6, slightly lower than its pre-virus high of 111.4 but hinting at a steady recovery for the critical sector. The leap "goes to show the resiliency of American consumers and their evergreen desire for homeownership," Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, said. "This bounce back also speaks to...

U.S. stock benchmarks shook off sharp opening losses Monday to stage the sharpest reversal since late March, with stocks closing higher after the Federal Reserve said it would expand an existing stimulus program to allow it to buy individual corporate bonds. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.61% added 158 points, 0.6%, to close near 25,763, after being down by as many as 762 points, or nearly 3%; while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.83% rose 25 points or 0.8%, to close near 3,067. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +1.43% jumped 137 points, 1.4%, ending trading near 9,726. The turnaround for the...

Stocks rose sharply Friday after the U.S. May jobs report showed a surprise 2.5 million jump in payrolls and a drop in the unemployment rate to 13.3% as businesses began to reopen from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. How are benchmarks performing? The Dow Jones Industrial Average US:DJIA jumped 950 points, or 3.6%, to 27,226, while the S&P 500 US:SPX rose 88 points, or 2.9%, to 3,201. The Nasdaq Composite US:COMP advanced 191 points, or 2%, to 9,807 and was briefly trading above its record closing level of 9,817.18 set on Feb. 19. The Nadaq-100 US:NDX , meanwhile, rose 171 points,...

U.S. stock futures and European shares rose Wednesday on optimism that economic activity is gathering steam and authorities may offer more stimulus to bolster the recovery. Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose 1.2%, suggesting that the gauge’s 1.2% rally on Tuesday may be extended after the New York opening bell. European stocks also ticked higher, with the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 advancing almost 1%. Investors are cheering signs that the White House and Congress are considering more measures to blunt the impact of historic levels of unemployment on the economy. The Trump administration is examining proposals to provide cash...

U.S. stocks soared higher Thursday as the government came closer to approving a $2 trillion stimulus package to combat the coronavirus pandemic, capping a three-day rally that has pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a bull market. The Dow industrials finished the day up 1351.62 points, or 6.4%, to close at 22,552.17, launching the blue-chip index back into bull market territory. The jump ends an 11-day bear market for the index—the shortest in history for the index—which reached its bear-market low just three days ago. The rapid plunge out of, and then back into, a bull market underscores just...

While our nation fights the novel coronavirus for our health and physical well-being many Americans are also waging a daily battle in the financial markets as we see historic and unprecedented volatility. Many investors can only be left in a constantly shifting cycle of awe, confusion, and grief as one day the Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 1,000-2,000 points, jumps up similarly or the same, and so on and so forth. Monday saw perhaps the worst of that as the 10% rally from the Friday prior faded as the day closed the day down almost 3,000 points.  In some ways...

Stocks ended sharply higher after a volatile session Friday as Wall Street rebounded from the deep losses suffered in the previous session, the worst since the Black Monday market crash in 1987. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1,985 points, or 9.3%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also surged 9.3%. The averages posted their biggest one-day gains since October 2008.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly surpassed 29,000 on Friday for the first time, setting a new record. The index hit the record earlier in the session following a moderate December jobs report, which found 145,000 new jobs created in 2019 and the unemployment rate staying unchanged at 3.5 percent, the lowest level in nearly 50 years. The Dow then retreated and was down slightly as of late morning. President Trump has frequently touted strong stocks as a sign of a booming economy, which he has made a central theme in his case for reelection. He has also cited the...

Stocks are lurching toward fresh records to commence the first trading day in 2020, but that advance has raised some questions about the run-up in values for broad-market U.S. equity benchmarks. Indeed, the S&P 500’s recent gains have taken it to its priciest level relative to its hourly cost for the average worker on record. By that measure, Tuesday’s climb by the S&P 500 SPX, +0.84% to a peak at 3,250.04 would mean that the average employee, at an hourly wage of $28.29, would need to work 114.88 hours to buy a single unit of the index, representing one of...

Stocks were on track Thursday to set fresh closing records, unfazed by President Donald Trump’s impeachment and finding support in the interim U.S.-China trade deal and improvements in the global economic outlook. What are stock indexes doing? The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, rose 125 points, or 0.4%, to 28,364, while the S&P 500 index SPX gained 13 points, or 0.4%, at 3,204. The Nasdaq Composite index COMP added 51 points, a gain of 0.6%, at 8,879. All three major benchmark stock indexes set new intraday highs Thursday morning. On Wednesday, the Dow and S&P 500 snapped a five-day winning...

Before the Fed lowered its target interest rate range on Wednesday, Donald Trump was already on Twitter, touching on two of his favorite topics: how the Fed doesn't lower interest rates enough and that the stock market's performance is thanks to him and his Republican pals. The connection between a president and equity markets isn't straightforward. Many factors—the general health of the economy, investors sentiment, interest rates, financial stimulus, and global business conditions, for example—affect how stocks perform. But presidents also aren't unimportant. "Policies may or may not be helpful for economic growth," says Kenneth Orr, CEO of investment research...