LAT: Stocks, Bonds Surprising in '04

Stocks, Bonds Surprising in '04
Equity investors have reaped gains in a broad range of sectors. The tough question is what to do next.


Wall Street is hoping for a strong finish to a year that is turning out surprisingly well for financial markets.

Despite rising interest rates, a plummeting dollar, a sharp jump in energy prices and slowing corporate profit growth, Americans are on track to make good money this year in the bread-and-butter investment categories of stocks and bonds....

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The bearish view on Wall Street at the start of this year was that the rebound in share prices in 2003 was a flash in the pan — a brief respite within a prolonged slide.

If stocks can hold on to decent gains in 2004, the market will have rewarded investors for two straight calendar years. That wouldn't erase the pain of the severe decline of 2000-02, but it could bolster confidence that the market has moved on, and that the risks of owning stocks don't drastically outweigh the potential rewards....

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You wouldn't know that from looking at the Dow Jones industrial average, the most widely followed market index. It has been a poor proxy for what has gone on in the market as a whole....


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-petruno28nov28,0,1178503.column?coll=la-home-business

Hope it continues...

If we make the dollar worth a dime, stocks will increase ten fold. If Bush makes the dollar worth a penny, stocks will increase one-hundred fold.

It's fortunate for the GOP that these concepts are so hard for the general public to grasp.

The 30-stock Dow, at 10,522.23 on Friday, was barely positive for the year, up 0.7%.

But the Dow is the anomaly, not the norm. The average New York Stock Exchange issue has risen 9.4% this year. The average small-company stock has jumped 13.3%, as measured by the Russell 2,000 index.

Within the S&P 500 index, 85 stock industry sectors are in positive territory this year, while 28 have lost ground.

That has made it easier for stock mutual fund managers to keep their investors in the green: The average domestic stock mutual fund has gained 8.6% this year, according to research firm Morningstar Inc.


My foreign bond funds are up more than that. My foreign stock funds are up 20%.

The US is a toilet bowl for investing by comparison.

Is that what you are saying?