Dow tops 9,000

[Loki]

Dow tops 9,000

Better-than-expected results from components AT&T and 3M are among the factors lifting the blue-chip average to a six-month high.

By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: July 23, 2009: 10:43 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks rallied Thursday, with the Dow industrials reaching 9,000 for the first time since the start of the year, as several major companies reported results that surpassed expectations and a home sales measure topped forecasts.

Over an hour into the session, the Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) had gained 147 points, or 1.7%, moving as high as 9,033, its highest level since Jan. 6. The S&P 500 (SPX) index added 15 points, or 1.6%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) gained 28 points, or 1.5%.

The Dow and S&P 500 ended lower Wednesday, but the Nasdaq managed an 11th straight session of gains for its longest win streak since September 1996. Better-than-expected results from Apple and others led the tech average higher.

Another batch of better-than-expected results led the broader advance Thursday.

[Æmeric]

I wonder how much of this is due to the excessive amount of US$ created by the Fed? Yes, I expect the real estate market to also have a spectacular rebound.

[Loki]

IMO this is the final bit of steam before the summer slump. Dow should fall back to the lows seen earlier this year.

[Lars]

OVER 9000!!!!!

[Psychonaut]

The Dow is a horrible indicator of the nation's economy. It may be up, but unemployment rates are continuing to rise.

[ikki]

Bouncing dead cats more like it.


Meanwhile the real issues are out there. Massive overspending, a economy based upon import and retail of the same and funded by loans.
Not to forget that the middleclass is being eradicated along with the working european, and replaced with the entitled person on color.

Ofcourse there are solutions that could deal with the problems, but a social democracy whoose very power is based upon robbing the many and handing out money to the few... just plain physically cannot do those things.

Which in turn means there is no escape. Not until the entire social fabric is undone.

[Inese]

I am not good in economics and i dont understand many things of it but i have to say that the economy crisis was not bad for my family!! The time before the crisis everything was very expensive ---- energy , the gasoline for the car and the food and technical equipment! The prices of gasoline were super high , a liter benzine in Germany costed 1,60 EUR for a time at beginning of 2008!!

You know , with the crisis everything became cheaper , the price for a liter gasoline dropped from 1,60 EUR to 1,15 EUR and other products were afordable also. My parents work and they say that they are not feeling the crisis!
hm okay the media make panic with the news messages but in daily life of my family many things have not changed.

And now the crisis is at the end and everything becomes more expensive again ....

I know in other countrys things are different!! USA was very hit hard by real estate crisis and made many people poor and Latvia is near bankrupt!! But we experience the crisis in Germany and not much happened , that is my view on it!! I am very sorry if i sound naive to you but i am not a economic person!!

[Psychonaut]

And now the crisis is at the end and everything becomes more expensive again ....

Really? Are you talking about Latvia in particular or the world as a whole? I can assure you that the situation in the US is affecting the middle and lower classes significantly more so than the upper crust. Also, according to this Latvia's unemployment rates were approaching 10% at the beginning of the year and are projected to reach 15%.

[Inese]

Yes you are right and i said that Latvia is hit very hard , the country was near bankrupt and the EU had to help with much money!! But i live with my parents in Germany now and not much bad things happened here. In daily life the only experience i have is that the prices became much cheaper and that the stock market has problems --- and some companys: Opel and Quelle. But that is all and my parents say in the daily work they cant feel a crisis.

German unemployed rate has not exploded in the crisis.

[The Lawspeaker]

Germany is still also facing rising unemployment (June). And inflation in the Eurozone in June was 3.7%