Dow Breaks 14,164 Old High

The Dow is heading for the history books, pushing through its 14,164.53 closing record from October 9, 2007.

Published

2 months ago

Categories

Finance, US

Topics

Finance, United States

Places

United States of America

Companies

Bear Stearns, Newbridge Securities, Lehman Brothers

Transcript

14,164.53, that's the old record high for the Dow Jones industrial average set on October 9, 2007. The index smashed through that previous high early Tuesday. Three things behind the power move: China's strong economic growth targets, a jump in European retail sales and the latest data from the U.S. services sector. The Institute for Supply Management's services index - reaching a one-year high helped by a rise in new orders and demand for exports. It took more than five years for the stock market to get back to these levels, clawing its way back from financial crisis and the Great Recession. According to Doug Blake of Newbridge Securities there is a major difference between the high back then and the high now - less risk in the marketplace. SOUNDBITE: DOUGLAS BLAKE, SENIOR WEALTH MANAGER, NEWBRIDGE SECURITIES (ENGLISH) SAYING: "That market was really driven by leverage and not leverage on central banks, which is leverage that can be tolerated and can be trusted, but leverage by financial institutions. They had leveraged up their balance sheets in some cases 40-to-1, so you saw one-by-one, the Bear Stearns, the Lehman Brothers, the Washington Mutuals - companies just absolutely collapse and this led to an economic crisis." The stock market has been on a tear since the start of the year fueled in part by the Federal Reserve's decision to pump $85 billion a month into the economy by buying U.S. debt. A rebounding housing market and a resilient consumer are also factors behind the bull move.