The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 16,000 for the first time, a testament to investors’ hope that the plodding economy can gain momentum in the coming year.
The index, a gauge of 30 of the largest American companies, jumped more than 109 points to close at 16,009.99. Thursday’s advance was propelled by a better-than-expected drop in jobless claims and a Senate panel’s vote supporting Janet Yellen‘s bid to lead the Federal Reserve.
The stock market is caught up in its most furious rally in a decade. The Dow notched its 40th record high this year. It has jumped 22% since Jan 1.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up nearly 26%. And the technology-laden Nasdaq composite index has bounded 31.5%.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. “It’s been a fantastic year.”
Eclipsing the 16,000 milestone underscores the dramatic recovery in share prices from their low in March 2009 after the global financial crisis.
It also highlights the tremendous gains enjoyed by Americans who hold financial assets — primarily stocks and real estate — even as vast swaths of society grapple with high unemployment and measly wage gains.
The market rally has been stoked by the Fed’s economic-stimulus campaign.
The central bank is buying $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage securities. That helps keep interest rates low, which encourages borrowing by individuals and businesses.
The start of 2014 will also be crucial for the market once companies begin to issue fourth-quarter earnings reports. Investors have been somewhat nonplused during the last half as companies have reported less-than-spectacular results.
Earnings surged in 2010 and 2011 as the economy gained steam. But profit growth has throttled back since then.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA or “DOW”) closed above 16,000 yesterday setting a new record high of 16,009. The Dow is up 22% for the year, hitting the 40th all-time high of the year. Souring equity prices have an extreme wealth effect on perception but structurally the stock exchanges operate as gambling casinos, with virtually no company fully paying profit earnings dividends to the share owners.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted average of 30 significant stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. The DJIA was invented by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow back in 1896. The Dow includes companies like General Electric, Disney, Exxon and Microsoft. Along with the NASDAQ Composite, the S&P 500 Index, and the Russell 2000 Index, the Dow is among the most closely watched U.S. benchmark indices tracking targeted stock market activity.
Under the proposed Capital Homestead Act corporations would be encouraged and incentivized to pay out all their profits as taxable personal incomes to avoid paying corporate income taxes and to finance their growth by issuing new full dividend payout shares for broad-based individual citizen ownership.
Support the Capital Homestead Act athttp://www.cesj.org/homestead/index.htm andhttp://www.cesj.org/homestead/summary-cha.htm. See the full Act athttp://cesj.org/homestead/strategies/national/cha-full.pdf.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-us-stocks-20131122,0,5278366.story#ixzz2lQPfyI1q
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-us-stocks-20131122,0,5278366.story#ixzz2lQPIxPoz
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-us-stocks-20131122,0,5278366.story#ixzz2lQOAtIn1
