Dow Surges To Record High

[John McKenna]

NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street bounded higher Friday, hurtling the Dow Jones industrial average to a record close approaching 13,000 as investors celebrated a week of surprisingly strong earnings reports. The major indexes all had their third straight winning week, their longest such streak since October.

Investors who had tempered their expectations for first-quarter earnings at the beginning of the week were energized Friday by the initial wave of upbeat results. So far into the earnings season, 16 of the 30 Dow components have posted financial results for the first three months of the year—with 10 surpassing analyst forecasts. Dow components Honeywell International Inc., Caterpillar Inc., Pfizer Inc., and McDonald's Corp. all reported earnings Friday.


Better-than-expected results allowed stocks to extend their best April rally in four years, and one that pushed the Nasdaq composite index and the Standard & Poor's 500 index to six-year highs.


"It's not a matter of 13,000 for the Dow, we could be looking at 14,000 by the end of the year," said Robert Froehlich, chief investment strategist for investment firm DWS Scudder. "There's too much money out there chasing too few companies. This story isn't ending anytime soon."


According to preliminary calculations, the Dow closed up 153.35, or 1.20 percent, at 12,961.98, after setting a new intraday high of 12,966.29. The blue-chip index has hit 34 record closes since the beginning of October last year.


The S&P 500 index soared 13.62, or 0.93 percent, to 1,484.35, and the Nasdaq rose 21.04, or 0.84 percent, to 2,526.39.


For the week, the Dow surged 2.8 percent, the S&P 500 added 2.2 percent, and the Nasdaq rose 1.4 percent. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.95 billion shares.


Bonds held steady as many investors focused on stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was unchanged at 4.67 percent. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices spiked.
Oil prices rose ahead of the presidential election in Nigeria, which is Africa's top producer of crude. A barrel of light sweet crude rose $1.55 to settle at $63.38 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.



The abundance of relatively benign economic data released this week contributed to investors' buying mood. New data indicated that builders picked up the pace of construction of new homes last month, and that there was a modest increase in core inflation.


Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin said in a speech Friday it might take a couple of years for inflation to ease to levels that the Fed is comfortable with, which could mean that the central bank won't be cutting rates anytime soon.


Either way, Wall Street theorized this week that central bankers did not see enough evidence in recent reports that would force a change in policy. And that set up earnings to be a key catalyst for stocks.


"The main impetus has been, most of the bears and the gloom-and- doomers thought that first-quarter earnings would stink. Once again, the gloomy Guses have been proven wrong," said Alfred E. Goldman, chief market strategist at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis.

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[ekartal6]

Yes the market continues to roar! However many economists agree that a period of inflation is way overdue. Interest rates don't stay low forever. I sold (not many) homes in Chicago when rates were 16%.

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Originally Posted by ekartal6

Yes the market continues to roar! However many economists agree that a period of inflation is way overdue. Interest rates don't stay low forever. I sold (not many) homes in Chicago when rates were 16%.

I once had a 10-3/4% mortgage and considered myself lucky, but inflation never really went away. Yes, commodities were cheaper but during that time we had the NASDAQ dot.com boom & the housing boom which drove prices to unacceptable high levels and have since corrected.

The high in the DOW simply reflects an economy chasing the next thing, all the money that was once funneled into investor backed housing is now being redirected into the stock market, unless similar double-digit year over year results are seen this will be a short lived phenomenon. The real tell will be when those who never purchased a stock on the open market quit their job to trade their account, SELL!

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

My nest egg is up 9% so far this year! Yeah baby!

[tdietrich1]

Wonder what my 'nest egg' is going to do after 08.

tom

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Originally Posted by tdietrich1

Wonder what my 'nest egg' is going to do after 08.

tom

If the Democrat party wins, you can bet it will be taxed. Got to be fair and redistribute your income to the "less fortunate".

[tdietrich1]

Originally Posted by jfunderburk

If the Democrat party wins, you can bet it will be taxed. Got to be fair and redistribute your income to the "less fortunate".

Wouldn't taking away my life savings via taxes make me 'less fortunate'? I gave up smoking to afford college, and get a few bucks into savings each year. Seeing how many people that can afford to smoke still, I feel very downtrodden.

tom

[jwortham1]

Originally Posted by jfunderburk

If the Democrat party wins, you can bet it will be taxed. Got to be fair and redistribute your income to the "less fortunate".

As opposed to the Republican plan to redistribute it from the middle class to the "more fortunate"?

Please post your sources that my IRA and 401K are going to be taxed more under the Democrats than under Republicans.

[Michael Larson]

Jeffrey,

The money has to come from somewhere.
If taxes continue to be raised and spending remains uncontrolled I fear the vast sums in IRAs and 401ks will prove a target just too tempting for most politicians to ignore.

I would askyou this:

Which party is more likely to raise taxes and continue to spend other people's money with abandon?

[Brian E. Kelly]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Jeffrey,

The money has to come from somewhere.
If taxes continue to be raised and spending remains uncontrolled I fear the vast sums in IRAs and 401ks will prove a target just too tempting for most politicians to ignore.

I would askyou this:

Which party is more likely to raise taxes and continue to spend other people's money with abandon?

Well the current admin is now spending my grand kids money with wild abandon so I am sure a change won't make it any worse.

[tdietrich1]

Oh for your married folks, the "Marrage Penality Tax" will be returning, congress has not voted for its extension.

tom

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Both parties will piss away your hard earned money like a drunken sailor, the better question would be under which party would your business & investments do best. The Clinton years (a President I never voted for) were the best for both my wife & I in regards to earning money, its been all downhill since then.

Personally I see no hope whatsoever that this country would install another Republican after GWB, ain't gonna happen might as well set up your portfolio to reflect that eventually.

I am re-registering this year as a Democrat so that I can vote in the 2008 Primaries, with no hope of a Republican candidate, I can then vote for the Democrat who I believe will do the least damage.

All goes back to chaos theory.

[tdietrich1]

Originally Posted by jburkeson1

Personally I see no hope whatsoever that this country would install another Republican after GWB

GWB isn't a Republican, he's a nut bag. I understand a person ideology is what they believe, and party affiliation is who they signed up with, but GWB!.!..... {imagine a string of bad words here, since I don't use them typically} Just saying the last few elections have been dumb verses dumber. My crash course in politics has reveales something, good people don't want bad mistakes well in the past dredged up. We are all human, and if you were late on a library book, I don't think it should be a national scandal if you are running for office. So we just get jerks who don't care that run for office.

Good people will once again take power (again), and then we can get these wackjobs out of the federal government. If 100% people of America hates politicians, why do 98% automatically get voted back in.

"Tom Dietrich for Office"

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by bkelly2

Well the current admin is now spending my grand kids money with wild abandon so I am sure a change won't make it any worse.

I didn't bring GW up you did.

If you seriously think the Dem's will do better in controlling spending and reducing the tax burden, please provide all of us with some evidence to support your claim.

They can't even agree to make permenant GW tax cuts. Just what are we to make of that?

[Brian E. Kelly]

http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm

Too easy