In recent weeks, stocks have sold off from their recent highs. It appears that the enthusiasm that drove equity markets higher since last March may have run its course.
Recent posts tagged ‘dow jones industrial average’
Driving through the Pennsylvania countryside at 7:30 one morning, here’s the news I hear on the radio (read breathlessly): “And in the morning business news, Dow futures are down 300. S&P futures down 40. Nasdaq futures down 80.”
I’m amused by such announcements. Futures prices at 7:30 a.m. are the equivalent of a donut with your coffee: pure junk food.
I don’t want to develop a reputation here for repeating the current administration’s talking points, but this struck a nerve: In March, Larry Summers pointed out that the Dow Jones Industrial Average, adjusted for inflation, was recently at the same level it was in 1966.
At the risk of giving away my age, I’ll tell you that that suggests buying stocks right now could be the deal of my lifetime.
Mark Hulbert (with some help from Jeremy Siegel) does a nice job correcting the record about how long it took for stock market investors to “recover” from the Great Depression.
While some are quick to point out that it wasn’t until 1954 that the Dow closed above its 1929 high, Hulbert argues that, in fact, adjusted for inflation and dividends, the Dow got back to its ‘29 level after 8 years—which is still a long time, but not forever.