DOW rises 535 points today

[Johnny2X2X]

Since only bad news seems to get a thread around here, was a great day for investors. Job growth is breaking records, DOW up over 12% this year. We're in the middle of a year of close to 7% GDP growth, highest in decades. Those are the realities, Biden started in a huge hole, the recovery has been faster than anyone could have imagined.

Reminder, Donald Trump was a total and complete economic disaster. He had the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover and left the worst year for GDP since 1947.

[Johnny2X2X]

5. Yeah, it cracks me up

2021 will be either the 2nd or the first highest GDP growth since 1960 and there's people on TV acting like we're in a recession. 7% growth is insane! Only been done 1 time since 1955.

If Trump or any republican were President, they'd literally be holding ticker tape parades for themselves for these growth numbers.

[nolabear]

2. Thank you! They're counting on ignorance as they bash him.

It’s funny how many people can’t tell the difference between bullshit and reality. I constantly hear (not here) how Joe’s hiding, not accomplishing anything, failing. What he’s doing is working and getting results as best he can without having to constantly blow his own horn or blame others. All too many people out there in red world don’t look any further than the loud and griftery for their “facts.”

[Patton French]

3. Yes, there were some "better than expected" earnings reports today

Glad the “experts” were wrong.

[doc03]

4. INFLATION hurts everyone. The average person

couldn't care less about the DOW.

[Johnny2X2X]

6. Inflation is mostly transitory and supply chain related

What about wages? Wages are rising at their highest rates in generations.

[jimfields33]

9. That is 100 percent true. Gas the exception.

I’m sorry but inflation is going rapidly. Go to the store and prices are insane. It needs to stop.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. Gas is too volatile, it's never including in inflation metrics

You've got Covid related interruptions to the supply chain, so companies are charging more for the good they have, or they are buying more than they need of supplies and absorbing the cost to store the, so they cost more. Biden is doing a great job of getting the disaster of an economy he inherited back up and running., the inflation has nothing to do with the job he's doing an d he's working to minimize it.

[misanthrope]

17. Don't worry, the energy sector is doing their part to sabotage Biden

I think the fantasy is to return to the gasoline station lines of the Carter era.

[Metaphorical]

21. Also, don't forget EVs

Electric vehicle prices are still too high, but they nonetheless represent a ceiling for the energy sector - when energy costs get high enough (especially oil and gasoline), then the demand for electric cars also rises, putting more EVs on the road and retiring ICE engines. So the oil sector in particular has to be very careful about how high they actually go before they risk accelerating the EV adoption rate.

[misanthrope]

22. If computer chip availability is affecting ICE automobile supply

then I don't see how that doesn't affect EVs as well.

[Metaphorical]

26. It will be a factor, yes

I think consumer electronics and automotive platforms will both be more expensive for a while, though there are indications that chip availability is beginning to ease. A lot of auto manufacturers cut their orders for chips at the beginning of the pandemic fearing that automobile sales would collapse. They did for a bit, but recovered fairly quickly, but by then most of the chips had been sold for other uses. Couple that with a fire at a chip fab in Japan and this caused a chip crunch early this year. However, the fab is back online and chip production is increasing again. It's also highlighted the need for more American chip production, not just design, something that was part of one of Biden's earlier initiatives.

[Metaphorical]

19. Gasoline and inflation

Actually the reason that gasoline isn't counted in inflation figures has more to do with the fact that it usually IS counted as part of the overall delivery cost within the supply chain as part of production, so counting it again would give it an outsized contribution. However, also keep in mind that fuel prices are not that much dramatically higher than they were in 2019, pre-pandemic, and seem to be stabilizing around $75 a barrel.

Agreed also on your analysis - I expect prices to start coming back down towards Spring 2022, though it'll likely be through the increased use of discounts rather than sticker adjustment. I'm also seeing COLA pressures beginning to make companies finally start raising wages.

[doc03]

10. I am retired on a fixed income my wages aren't going

up but prices are going up on everything. We will get around a 6% COLA and Medicare and supplemental insurance will take a chunk of it. Most private pension plans get no increases. I may get 2% at the very most. And I will have to pay more tax on my SS benifits.

[Johnny2X2X]

13. You're getting a 6% COLA and prices are going up 4.9%

Sounds like you're coming out ahead.

[doc03]

15. But Medicare will go up supplemental insurance will

go up. I will get no increase in pension income so I will gain maybe 2% at best. If inflation is only 4.9% how is it
we get a COLA of 6% when they say that the COLA does not represent the actual cost of living of a senior?

[karynnj]

20. Not everyone

If wages rise because of inflation AND you own a house with a fixed mortgage, you might over all come out ahead. If interest rates rise AND you are a retiree on SS with some assets in bonds, you might benefit.

Who is definitely hurt? Someone on a fixed income renting a home with increased costs for everything.

[NutmegYankee]

23. That's a major benefit of homeownership.

The wages rise, but the mortgage stays the same.

[karynnj]

25. Not to mention, the equity in the house grows considerably

ALL the gain in the value of the house goes to the owner's equity no matter how much mortgage principal remains. Even as their mortgage cost remains the same, their assets increase.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. Thank you.

People here like to act as if any drop in the Dow is imminent sign of a huge collapse. Or they call the stock market a Ponzi scheme, showing they really have no clue how it actually works.

I'm retired, living on a fixed income (SS, investments, two annuities, and a very small pension) and I actually have more income than I ever have had in my life. Not by a lot, but by enough to be nice. Plus, one of my annuities just increased its payout by a few dollars a month. A lot of people trash annuities and I just don't understand. So far, the value of them has risen since I started taking money out, and there will probably be a pretty hefty residual amount left over when I'm no longer collecting.

[traitorsgalore]

28. Thanks for explaining how well off you are, LOL

And for telling everyone else how stupid we are for not understanding.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

30. Decades ago I read an article in Life magazine, profiling a man with a very modest

income who had nonetheless saves some pretty decent sum of money. Don't recall the amount and it's not important now. But what has stayed with me all these years is that he said something like, "Someone out there is living on two thousand dollars a year less than you are."

I have always lived well below my means, which is sometimes a foreign concept to people.

I am this well off precisely because I saved steadily, lived below my means, and still do.

I do understand people being very close to the edge, because I've been relatively poor at various times in my life. But then I read about someone who made six figures and has zero savings. Really?

[WarGamer]

18. The market cratered March 20, 2020

It's been going UP UP UP ever since although it peaked in August 2021.

[brooklynite]

24. But I was to.d that the Stock Market was a policy scheme...

…that only benefited the wealthy.

(And of course, Union pension funds)

[traitorsgalore]

27. LOL, the old "the president controls the stock market" meme

So the president must also control Bitcoin, precious metals, bonds, currencies and every algorithm used to speculatively trade all of them!

Wow, what a smart guy! LOL!

[Johnny2X2X]

32. No one thinks that

But this thread was in response to the multiple threads we get when the DOW falls a few hundred points.

The markets are up 15% this year. The economy is growing at 6-7%, UE is already back down to 4.8%. This economy is strong and Biden deserves credit for it.

[malaise]

29. DOW shall lock

them up!

[Patton French]

31. 382 TODAY 10/15

401k happiness.