Dow Jones Closes Above 10,000
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economic recovery, Economy, Money
True, it might go right back down tomorrow, but I have to say that this is a nice little psychological boost.
But it’s not just psychological.
Look at the 52 week spread in that picture…at this time last year we were down to 6,469. That’s a pretty significant jump in just one year’s time. Not only that, we were hovering around 8,000 in July and gained 1,600+ points since then (a 20% increase).
I don’t know about you but my 401(k) is looking a lot fatter these days.
So between this and the news about the recession…can we get some agreement that things are starting to look up?
More as it develops…
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 and is filed under Economic recovery, Economy, Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 14th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Its definitely a good sign to see 5 digits up their again :)
October 14th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Yet gold came up over 1k again, jobless rates are still increasing as are foreclosures.
This whole thing feels off… It’s very unsettling.
I pray that the worst of us is behind us, but I can’t help wondering if it’s still a ways ahead.
October 14th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
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October 14th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Yeah, we’ve reinflated the financial bubble rather than address the underlying problems in our economy!
October 14th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I’m with gerryf. My firm desire is that the economy is turning around, but I’m pessimistic about the future with so much debt and increasing deficits.
October 14th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
The last time the dow broke 10,000 was just a few months before the market crashed in ’99. I’m not saying its going to crash like that again, but the lesson is that the Dow-Jones doesn’t necessarily predict future prosperity. The Dow actually lost value today when priced in gold, as the U.S. dollar got hammered today and made a 52-week low. I think people may be buying tangible assets because it is dangerous to hold cash or buy bonds, rather than any fundamental change in our economic health.
Commodities led this rally, and oil may be poised for a break-out. What good is your 401K if by the time you collect you are paying 15$ a gallon for gas?
October 15th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Yippy Tie Yeh! Now how about that Federal deficit? Does that make you smile ?
October 15th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
This is nice, but are they hiring?
captcha: family corleone.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:19 am
The DOW and S&P are priced in dollars, but receive investment globally. So, as the dollar weakens it is natural for the nominal (dollar) price to go up – but this does not represent any real increase in “value”, in terms of what you can exchange those shares for in the global market.
In short, because it is priced in dollars the price goes up when the value of the dollar goes down, to keep the net value about the same. Sorry, no good news here.
October 16th, 2009 at 11:14 am
milo –
A bit like my favorite Productivity Numbers.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Too true, Milo. And far too ignored as well.
Still, it’s objectively true that for most Americans at the present time, a 10k dow is better than 6k. Unless you panicked and went to money market funds at 8k or 7k and are now sitting it out with maximized losses.
If the recession is technically over and are economy is no longer shrinking, that’s a lot better than news of continued shrinkage. Still I hope that coverage of the economy makes it clear to folks that the technical end of “the recession” is by no means synonymous with the end of very bad economic times for many Americans.
I mean, when your house burns down, how much celebration is there when the fire is put out. What’s foremost in you mind is the horrible destruction and the huge task of trying to be build what you can.
I am still extremely concerned that we’ll see more bad technical news this winter. But supposing for the sake of argument that the recession really IS over, we still have to figure out what a realistic post-recession perspective is for each and every one of us. Especially those looking for work in domains where many or most lost jobs are not coming back. That’s the ugly challenge.