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UrbScotty

(23,980 posts) Fri Mar 30, 2012, 09:26 PM Mar 2012

Dow, S&P 500 push to best 1st quarter since 1998

Source: MSN

It was a good month and a great quarter for investors as stocks ended March with their best first-quarter performances since at least 1998.

The major averages moved higher in part due to improved consumer confidence and the largest gain in consumer spending in seven months.

At the same time, health care and energy stocks were the market leaders -- the former because of investor speculation that the Supreme Court will void part or all of the U.S. health care law. Higher oil prices boosted energy shares. Crude oil (-CL) settled up 24 cents to $103.02 a barrel.

The big question is whether stocks will repeat their pattern of the past two years. Stocks continued to rally into April in 2011 and April 2010 but slumped through the late spring and summer before a fall rally set in. While the quarter has been great, the market performance in March has been more subdued.

Read more: http://money.msn.com/market-news/post.aspx?post=087cac64-3d67-4737-b94a-31c3ff49ba16#scptm2

Either (a) Obama is socialist and socialism isn't all that bad, or (b) Obama isn't socialist. Either way, the Republicans are in trouble.

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Dow, S&P 500 push to best 1st quarter since 1998 (Original Post) UrbScotty Mar 2012 OP

Huh? "At the same time, health care and energy stocks were the market leaders -- the former because spooky3 Mar 2012 #1

Be that as it may, forcing them to accept people with pre-existing conditions and ... Selatius Mar 2012 #2

spooky3

(34,452 posts)

1. Huh? "At the same time, health care and energy stocks were the market leaders -- the former because

Reply to UrbScotty (Original post)

Fri Mar 30, 2012, 10:06 PM

Mar 2012

of investor speculation that the Supreme Court will void part or all of the U.S. health care law."

The individual mandate provision is a huge money maker for health care insurers, and will probably help providers, who have had to pass along the costs of uncovered care to paying patients.

I guess this is journalist speculation to match "investor speculation."

Selatius

(20,441 posts)

2. Be that as it may, forcing them to accept people with pre-existing conditions and ...

Reply to spooky3 (Reply #1)

Sat Mar 31, 2012, 03:32 AM

Mar 2012

taking away their ability to apply lifetime caps on peoples' insurance policies as well as requiring the companies to abide by a formula in which they have to spend X amount on care vs. "administrative costs" is going to impact their bottom line.

The parties that challenged the ACA law were likely doing it out of purely ideological reasons. From what I heard, it was somebody not necessarily inside the health insurance companies that brought the original lawsuit.

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