New York City (AFP) – The Dow and S&P 500 blasted to new records in early trade Monday fueled by a wave of new Boeing plane orders and continued positive investor sentiment for stocks.
After 90 minutes of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 51.92 points (0.33 percent) at 16,013.62, after crossing the 16,000 milestone for the first time.
The broad-based S&P 500 made its first foray above 1,800, adding 1.96 (0.11 percent) at 1,800.14.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.66 (0.07 percent) to 3,988.62.
The biggest gainer in the Dow was Boeing (+2.4 percent), which won more than $100 billion in new orders at the Dubai Airshow on Sunday.
Bring out the champagne. Where is Steve Randolph? He usually runs with the bulls…err…bull market that is. While 16,000 is merely a psychological barrier, it does indicate that investors feel that things will be good 6 months from now. Apparently they like what they see with Janet Yellen. She is in no hurry to change things around.
Naturally there are doom and gloomers out there who predict the end of the world as we know it. In many ways, having money in the stock market can be as risky as betting on the ponies at the race track. On the other hand, keeping your money in a sock under the bed allows you to be eaten up by inflation. I have always thought a good mix was the way to go. One caveat–I am not a bonds person.
The ride might be bumpy this week as investors do some profit taking. Any advice? Apparently those who wanted us to buy gold and who knew all the answers are off somewhere licking their wounds.
Doesn’t have much to do with Yellen, other than the fact the she is going to keep pumping in the funny money. Now if she said that she was going to begin tappering then it would have plunged. Just like it will plunge when they actually have to start the tapper. Can’t just keep pumping monopoly money into the market forever…
Oh dear God. Now you are an expert on the stock market. Tell us Peterson, what is the next Apple? Google?
Perhaps they like the polcies she outlined? Investors don’t like change when things are going along smoothly.
Is it time to get back in?? I say that in jest, but there are many people who were burned by the downturn of the market back in 2007 who have not reinvested and who have not participated in the rise of the market. This has created a greater disparity in wealth as the other major investment, homes, and not fully recovered either.
Yea they sure missed the ride.
I still feel like I lost a lot but the ride has been real decent.
@Moon-howler
Pheed… But that’s neither here nor there. It doesn’t take an expert to realize that at some point you will have to slow down the QE(~). You can only pump so many BILLIONS of $’s you don’t have into the market for so long. The very second the fed announces they are going to slow down the ‘easing’ the market will tumble.
Strike that… not the second the fed announces they will slow down, just the mention that it might happen will drop the Dow 200+ points in a day. And that’s just the beginning if they do taper, 400+ points if they make the announcement. So yes Pat, get in, the waters fine! Especially since Yellen is new, she will continue printing Monopoly money as long as she possibly can.
Dropping 200 points in a day is not extraordinarily unusual.
Pat was being sarcastic.
So Carlos, you aren’t investing?? Have you found the silver bullet?
Have you ever asked yourself how in the world you can constantly hit record high Dow numbers but at the same time have records in the same categories:
* number of people on food stamps
* number of Americans in poverty
* number of Americans that have stopped looking for work
* number of unemployed minority, especially minority youths
It’s all funny money making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Oh I’m investing, I’m close to being maxed out actually but I’m in my mid 30’s. My silver bullet is my age to be quite honest. I can absorb a hit because I’m in it for the long haul. One trick is to know when to shift from risky, high yield, to more conventional. I’ve lost close to 30% of my net wealth, then gained it back plus 15% or so all in the last 5+ years.
Your right, a 200+ point in a day drop isn’t out of the ordinary. I’m talking about a 200+ point drop one day, followed by a 150+ point drop the next, then maybe another 150 the next and so on.
Just look at this past September when the fed floated the idea of slowing down the fake pumping. The market ended that day 185 points down. And that was just a rumor. 😉
Trust me, at some point the fed, no matter who is in charge, will have to start pumping the brakes. When they do, you had better have either gotten out of the market or shifted your investments.
How does a person max out investing? Do you mean you have contributed all you can for the year? Good for you, if that is what you mean.
I like the concept of free money.
I don’t think most people just KNOW when to pull back. I don’t think the experts know. Look how many people got caught with their pants down in 2008.
So tell me, where do you think investments should be shifted?
Correct, max out as far as percentage of income with employer match. And your also right about knowing when to pull back. I was one of those caught with my pants down in ’08.
For me, and this is just my opinion, there are 3 warning signs. The first, we have already seen, floating the ‘pump the brakes’ idea by the fed. The second is another ‘rumor’ of doing the same. The next time that happens pull out cause its coming. However, Yellen is a curve ball. She isn’t going to entertain the thought. Who wants to come in to head the fed with record market numbers only to squash it? Nobody.
She will have the fed print as much money as she can for as long as she can. So look for continued record high Dow numbers for quite some time to come. Which is why I say if your not in right now, get in. Get out a week or two after they start talking about tappering.
Where do I think you should shift your investments? Everyone is different (age, amount invested, percent of income investing, etc…). For me, it’s a matter of shifting percentages around of what I’m investing in or pulling back how much I’m investing depending on the severity of decline.
@Carlos Danger
There will be no stopping the free money until the Republicans get back in office. That way the Democrats can point at them and say, “See….its all THEIR fault.”
The higher the market goes…the farther and harder its going to fall when it runs out of “free” money.
“More than 20% of the nearly 17,000 stocks
that Morningstar tracks are down at least 10%
this year.”
Money (November 2013)
FYI
Interesting. I guess that is why they advise you to have a lot. Spread out the bucks. I have about 5 that are definitely down. (mostly dealing with metals and not all that much invested in any of them.)
Note that one of the good guys over the last 52 weeks
has been Micron Technology (MU) – from 5.46 to over 19.00
a share.
That is a local company out on 28? That is great. Almost 300% increase in value.
Couldn’t agree more and that’s one of my greatest fears. You would think at some point the fed would HAVE to start pumping the brakes but with Yellen coming in that gives them a new lease on life so-to-speak.
Now they will just keep the ole money machine ‘fired up and ready to go’ for the next 3 years. At 85 BILLION a month that equals around 3 TRILLION over Obama’s remaining term. Let me say that again…. that is around 3 TRILLION.
I think we can all read the tea leaves here. Obama is NOT going to stop 3 TRILLION $’s worth of funny money artificially propping up the economy during his presidency. Just ain’t gonna happen, no way shape or form.
So, yes, if your not in the market… what are you waitin for? The ONLY thing that will bring it down ACA. If healthcare.gov doesn’t at least get semi functional in the next 6 months then there is no telling what will happen. Markets will be very tentative, iffy, almost frozen.
That’s quite some conspiracy theory. Very complex. Lots of loose ends.
Just a reminder, QE1 started in November 2008 and mostly consisted of the fed buying around 100 BILLION a MONTH and it lasted 17 months (or around 1.7 – 2 TRILLION $’s). Since that ended, approx May 2010, we have had QE2, QE3, and now QE 4. Any guess on how many $’s that was (hint: we are at 85 BILLION a month).
This is why I refer to it as QE(~). It’s just not going to end. If Yellen came in and cut off the Monopoly money the market would crash 10x’s harder than the housing crisis.
It’s not complex at all, what do you think would happen if we stopped quantitative easing tomorrow? I’m just curious, maybe you can inject some sanity into my assessment on the market re: QE (~).
Loose ends? Maybe I just don’t inderstand your comment. What makes it a conspiracy theory? How is it complex? There have been a ton of articles on QE’s over the past 4+ years.