Dow Closes at Record 11,727
The Dow set two record highs today.
The Dow Jones industrial average finally reached new heights Tuesday, extending Wall Street’s seven-year recovery with a record closing level after climbing into uncharted territory in trading earlier in the day. The index of 30 blue chip stocks ended the session at 11,727.34, wiping out the previous record of 11,722.98.
Earlier, the Dow crossed its old trading high of 11,750.28, rising up to 11,758.95. Both of the previous records were set Jan. 14, 2000.
Given that almost all the political news the last couple of weeks has been bad (at least from the standpoint of incumbent politicians) I’m pretty sure this has nothing to do with the Bush administration and is just the business cycle at work. Of course, had the Dow tanked, I’d have thought the same thing.
Good news, I suppose, but there are a couple of things I think we should bear in mind. First, the DOW’s still down in real dollars. Second, the quarter has just ended. Traders were under great pressure to show gains and, of course, they did.
Still, it’s better than the other way around.
I neglected to mention another factor: the slowdown in home sales has driven money into equities.