The stock
market goes up and down so that active traders can sell high and buy low. Tariffs
on China’s imports to the US are working to restore manufacturing in the US
with no inflation. The US added 136,000 jobs in September. The US Unemployment
rate was 3.5% and the US Labor Force Participation Rate was 63.2%.
The Dow
Average is struggling to reach 27,000 for good reason based on current
earnings, problems and expectations. GE is selling assets. Healthcare related
companies expect lower profits for a change.
Oil companies are down but not for long. Every company has its own
story. Boeing is in trouble for faulty software. Johnson & Johnson is
fighting lawsuits over baby powder and pharmaceuticals. Apple phone sales are
down due to saturation. The Dow is struggling because the value of the stock
for 10 of the 30 companies is lower than it was a year ago.
The Dow
is an average of 30 “representative” companies that is supposed to give us some
idea how the US economy is doing, but it is more about how each of these 30
companies are doing.
10 Dow
companies are down for the year.
GE -37.5%
3M -25.0%
Exxon
Mobil – 20.3%
Pfizer –
20.1%
Caterpillar
-17.4%
United
Health -16.0%
Goldman
Sachs -8.6%
Chevron
-7.8%
Johnson
& Johnson -6.7%
IBM -2.1%
19 Dow
companies are up for the year
Proctor
& Gamble 49.0%
Microsoft
29.1%
Visa
28.9%
McDonalds
25.8%
Walmart
23.9%
Nike
23.2%
Merck
19.4%
Coca Cola
17.6%
Home
Depot 17.3%
Disney
14.0%
Intel
12.1%
Travelers
9.9%
American
Express 9.7%
Verizon
8.6%
Appel
3.6%
Cisco
2.1%
Boeing
1.8%
JP Morgan
Chase 0.7%
United
Technologies 0.4%
On 10/9/18,
the Dow opened at 26,469. On 10/9/19, the Dow opened at 26.803. Over the past
12 months, the Dow opened between 24,830 and 26,963. The Dow did hit a high of
27.399.
Gains in
the Dow for 2019 may be a bit lower unless the Dow moves well above 27,000. Dow
opening prices are listed below.
10/9/18 26,469
11/1/18 25,142
12/3/18 25,780
1/2/19 23,059
2/1/19 25,025
3/1/19 26,020
4/1/19 26,075
5/1/19 26,639
6/3/19 24,830
7/1/19 26,806
8/1/19 26,880
9/1/19 26,198
10/1/19 26,963
10/9/19 26,803
The
S&P 500 Average is a better measure of how the US economy is doing, because
it includes stock prices from the largest 500 US companies not just the 30
selected by Dow Jones.
The
S&P 500, where most 401K dollars are invested was 2785 on 10/1/18 and was
2940 on 10/1/19. The gain was 155 or 6%.
The
S&P 500 as of 10/1/19 has risen by 797 points or 37% since 10/1/16.
10/1/16 2143
10/1/17 2557
10/1/18 2785
10/1/19 2940
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment