Where Will The Markets Go From Here?

When 2012 came to a close, the three major US stock market indexes were looking like this:

DJIA - 13,104.14
NASDAQ - 3,019.51
S+P 500 - 1,402.43

Q1 wrapped up on Thursday afternoon, and here is how those three indexes closed:

DJIA - 14,578.54
NASDAQ - 3,267.52
S&P 500 - 1,569.19

The DJIA increased 11.25%, the NASDAQ increased 8.21% and the S&P 500 increased 11.9% in the first quarter of 2013.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both set new ALL-TIME records in the first quarter of 2013, while the NASDAQ continued its steady upwards march. Sure, the NASDAQ is still almost 2,000 points off of its all-time high (set during the crazy days of the dot com boom), but it has recovered dramatically from the sub-1300 levels that were seen during the financial crisis of 2008-09.

--

The stock market has been able to shrug off every piece of potentially damaging news that it has encountered over the past couple of years. Troubles in Europe? No problem. Various conflicts flaring up around the world? The markets continued to head higher. Continued high unemployment in the United States? Not a worry.

The markets have been able to completely erase the losses that were incurred after the "Great Recession" hit, and this has completely changed the mindset of the average US investor. Suddenly it is OK to invest in the markets again, and the money has come pouring back in.

--

There is seemingly no middle ground at this point as to what the "experts" think the markets will do over the near-term.

Half of the pundits seem to think that the markets are in the midst of a prolonged turn higher, while the other half think that the end is near and the markets are long overdue for a tumble.

Source: Where Did The DJIA/NASDAQ/S&P 500 Trade On..


Filed under: General Knowledge