September 28, 2006

DJIA Hits High

Don't tell Paul Krugman, but Andrew Roth reports that the Dow passed its previous closing high.

dow_high060928.gif
It closed a bit under, so keep that Dom on ice...

Posted by jk at September 28, 2006 6:38 PM

Oh my God! Whatever shall the Dems cry about now?

Posted by: TrekMedic251 at September 28, 2006 8:50 PM

TrekMedic. "Stocks soar to new highs. 'Undocumented Investors' hardest hit."

Posted by: AlexC at September 29, 2006 1:48 AM

Women and Minority Short Sellers Devastated.

Posted by: jk at September 29, 2006 4:23 PM

How about "5 plus years later, Dow finally recovers from Bush election theft?"

Posted by: johngalt at September 30, 2006 10:12 AM

6 years of essentially zero growth minus 6 years of inflation, let's throw a party

for we are that far behind (even @ 5% annual growth, not accounting for inflation, the dow 'should' be @ 16000, 10% growth would be 21250)

Posted by: tofubo at October 1, 2006 9:42 AM

Au contrere, tofubo. The previous market peak of 11,834 occurred on January 18, 2000. The market fell to 10,037 the following March (bursting the infamous "tech bubble" nearly a year before the Bush-Cheney Inaugural.) It then moved sideways and bottomed at 9,565 a year later, and rebounded to 10,053 just before 9/11. That horrific event plunged the Dow to 8,766 within weeks. Subsequent war fears led to a new 5-year low of 7,588 in October 2002. These events describe a nearly 3-year period of "essentially zero growth" as the market corrected the "irrational exuberance" of the tech bubble.

But what has happened in the subsequent four years? Just a steadily growing market that is 55% higher today. The market is now flirting with the peak valuation during the tech bubble, only this time nobody is talking about when it will fall off a cliff. The valuation today is sober and cautious, tempered by the realities of a global economy during war time.

Inflation? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics "Inflation Calculator" inflation from 2000 to 2006 was 18%, or 3% per year. (Want it lower? Talk to the Federal Reserve Board.)

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

So, in a nutshell, four years of double-digit growth following a major correction, a series of major corporate corruption scandals, 3000 people murdered by terrorists in the heart of the world's financial district, and a semi-vigorous (though plenty expensive) war effort against those same terrorists ... sounds good to me. Let's throw a party!

Posted by: johngalt at October 3, 2006 1:47 AM | What do you think? [6]