S&P 500, Dow indexes edge up to record highs

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-BIG story

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are creeping further into record territory after a quiet day of trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at all-time highs Monday.

The Dow added 26 points, or 0.1 percent, to 18,298. The S&P 500 rose up six points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,129.

The Nasdaq composite gained 30 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,078, but did not reach a record.

FULL story at link.



FILE - This Oct. 2, 2014 file photo shows a Wall Street sign adjacent to the New York Stock Exchange, in New York. U.S. stocks indexes are edging lower in early trading Monday, May 18, 2015, as the market comes off its latest record high. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/11e86a2e277341f4a24e409a75f2f3b4/sp-500-dow-indexes-edge-record-highs

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I'll get excited about this

when some of that money ends up in the hands of the people who created it.

And if anyone reads this, I'll be inundated with people telling me about all the retirement plans, etc. that are benefiting.

It's a lot like the old story about the guy who kept going back to the same long-running poker game even though he knew it was crooked. "It's the only game in town," he explained.

[yellowcanine]

3. Okay I will bite. What do you suggest we do with retirement savings? CDs, Savings Accounts?

Give our money to a bank for less than 1% so THEY can invest in higher yield securities? Now THAT is crooked.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. No, obviously we should put it into the hands of the gamblers.

Which shell is your retirement money under? OK, now watch carefully…

Really, the system is so fucked that there are few alternatives for any of us non-rich types. How about a government system that invests the money in government-owned railroads, highways, etc. & returns the profits to the citizens?

How about a guaranteed minimum income?

How have you let yourself get boxed into such a cramped little container of alternatives?

[yellowcanine]

12. Look, I am 64 years old. I don't have time to engage in hypotheticals.

I have to do what is best for me now and not think about better systems and yes these ideas of yours might be better systems but what I have now is SS and what I have managed to save in deferred comp - which yes, is in the hands of the "gamblers" as you put it and thank God for that - otherwise I would not have anywhere near any kind of decent income over SS. And by the way, stocks have done far better than I could have done anywhere else in the economy which we have, including SS.

[JDPriestly]

9. If we had an economy that was healthy and safe for our retirement savings, etc.

then bank interest rates would be higher because there would be more investment on Main Street and more demand for bank loans.

The stock market represents investment in usually fairly large, publicly traded companies. But a lot of the business that has traditionally made our economy healthy does not happen in large, publicly traded companies. It used to happen on Main Street where we live and it survived on bank loans with decent interest rates -- fair -- neither too high nor too low.

So there should be a healthy ratio between bank rates and the stock market. That suggests that the stock market value is the result of people putting money into the stock market because the banks are paying such a low return.

That is one of the results of an economy in which the disparity of income between rich and poor is so great that the economy is out of balance. It does not purport well for the future of our economy. It means that small entrepreneurs and start-ups can get easy money at low interest rates from banks but aren't causing enough demand for that money to justify raising bank interest rates.

The high stock market value in this economy sets off alarm bells in many of us. The only thing that is reassuring to those invested in the stock market is the fact of the disparity in wealth. A lot of the money in the stock market is held owned by the very wealthy who probably won't need to take it out to do anything useful with it.

That stock market money is kind of trapped money. It really is not improving the lives of everyday people. What is it really being used for? Paying outsized CEO and other top management salaries and bonuses and stock option benefits. Little of it will revert to the pocketbooks of the retirees. What a big scam.

On edit, what is the purpose of money? It symbolizes the exchange of value between parties in a commercial transaction. We forget that when we look at big numbers. If you see an increase in the value of stocks and the stock market, but there is no real increase in the value of exchange, no remarkable surge in the volume of economic exchanges and transactions, then you have to ask what the real value of the stock market and the money behind it is.

Just think about it.

[JDPriestly]

7. Thanks. Great post.

[brooklynite]

2. Wasn't I told last week that the market was going to crash?

[yellowcanine]

4. Patience. It is still early in the week.

[JDPriestly]

6. Of course, bank interest rates are near 0%.

So people with money have to put it in the stock market or lose it.

Very clever of our powers that be.

And at any moment the whole thing can crash like a kite on a stormy day. It sails beautifully and then, whoosh, out of control and it hits a tree.

What a warm feeling it gives investors when the stock market goes up. Gamblers all, they live for that thrill. But it is not solid and down-to-earth.

Mind you, if you have the money, a balanced portfolio with some in stocks is "prudent" (in quotes because I just love that word; makes your mouth feel like you are eating something sour when you pronounce it) but when the stock market goes this high and the economy on the ground is not hot enough to inspire a rise in interest rates, it is not a good sign.

Our economy is better than it has been, but not really really good. This stock market is hoping for passage of the TPP, and I realize that could happen but there are a lot of signs that it will not.

The California Democratic Party Convention reaction to Elizabeth Warren's reference to the TPP in her speech is one indication. Another is the decision by the WTO court announced today that country of origin labeling violates NAFTA. Finally, there is Elizabeth Warren's devastating report on the failure of successive US administrations including the Obama administration to vigorously litigate to enforce the labor and environmental safeguards in the language of the existing trade agreements. That report pretty much kills all the claims made by Obama and others that the TPP will have tough enforcement language. If you don't want to and don't try to enforce the labor and environmental laws that already exist in the agreements we have, what good is a lot of pretty language promising enforcement in the TPP. Not going to happen.

Very bad signs for the TPP.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. "tough enforcement language…"

Jeez.

"You guys quit killing the peasants or we'll get really mad and have a serious discussion about it."

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. I'm hoping for a crash so investors go back to bonds....

Our infrastructure could use it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. The headlines just a few days ago were all doom and gloom....

Bastards.

[CountAllVotes]

13. Great news for the 1%!!!

[WestSideStory]

14. Meanwhile the rich are getting richer