Dow 30 Closes at New High, What Does it Mean to You?

I have a link to the list of companies that make up the Dow here  http://money.cnn.com/data/dow30/?iid=MKT_Sub

 

The companies have changed over the years, so much so that the word industrials hardly applies, when you see names like McDonalds,Travelers Insurance and Home Depot. The changing companies have really been part of the shift of America from producer to consumer. The trade deficit can attest to that shift over the last 40 some odd years as companies have relocated our factories to cheaper labor markets.

The DJIA is the number that you see on the nightly news and it has shock value when a big drop occurs. When new highs are reached it does not grab people like a 200 point single day drop does. The new high is great but it is a number that the Dow has visited three times in the past 12 years and with the '08-'09 crash still visible in the rear view mirror it is easy to see why some people are not convinced that the market can go any higher. 

Here at Smalltime we want people to educate themselves about the markets or seek the advice of competent professional investment companies such as Vanguard, Fidelity or any of a number of other firms. We think everyone should be participating in the market at some level because it is a market of stocks, not the stock market. There are over 15,000 companies currently trading on US markets and there are many mutual funds (mutual funds are just groups of stocks together under a given criteria) If you know nothing about stocks or markets do not be afraid be informed. We as humans are usually afraid of the unknown so information is king in the investment realm. Since none of us know the future of this stock market rally it is a little scary. We hope you are in on it and that you are diversified to spread out your risk. Smalltime is just glad that after 5 years of bad news that there is finally something to feel upbeat about.