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The Breakfast Briefing: Dow On Track To Make A Fresh Attempt To Hurdle Over 20,000
It fascinates me that people obsess about round numbers on indices.
It is fascinating isn't it? Not just stock indexes. Toss in 50th anniversaries, turning 70 or 100, or becoming a millionaire - to name a few. The goverrnment, however, seems not to have such fixation. Witness the 70.5 years of age RMD requirement or tax brackets like 28 and 33%.
Is Dow 20,000 meaningful? Hardly. But if it's like Dow 10,000 the gang at CNBC will celebrate. Unlike your 50th anniversary, they'll probably get to celebrate Dow 20,000 more than once.
There could be a psychological aspect to all this that will motivate those investors who are less erudite than we to throw caution to the wind and start pouring money into an already hot market, driving indexes even higher for some period of time. Or, I suppose, the opposite may also accur - with the daunting figure stoking fear in the hearts of many and causing stocks to sell off.
Comments
Is Dow 20,000 meaningful? Hardly. But if it's like Dow 10,000 the gang at CNBC will celebrate. Unlike your 50th anniversary, they'll probably get to celebrate Dow 20,000 more than once.
There could be a psychological aspect to all this that will motivate those investors who are less erudite than we to throw caution to the wind and start pouring money into an already hot market, driving indexes even higher for some period of time. Or, I suppose, the opposite may also accur - with the daunting figure stoking fear in the hearts of many and causing stocks to sell off.