Stocks end sharply higher, but post worst January since - MarketWatch

Stocks have soared so high that a cautious person might start worrying about oxygen supply. In January, the Dow Jones industrial average reached 20, for the first time. It crossed the 21, mark on March 1, and while it slipped on Thursday and then had a late surge on Friday, it still seems to have plenty of power left in it.

Should you stay where you are and hope for further gains, or is it time to declare victory and move your money to safer ground? The answer depends, of course, on your analysis of two very different issues: The raw numbers for the stock market are astonishing: Market history shows how remarkable that performance is. The current bull run is now the second longest sinceaccording to Bespoke Investment Group, a research firm.

It is surpassed in duration only by one that ran from December to March In terms of strength, it ranks third, well behind that bull market, which had an eye-popping gain of percent, but not very far from one that lasted from June until Augustin which the market rose percent. The current rally has lasted so long and has gone so far that precedents from past markets may not be very helpful in understanding it.

Birinyi is a veteran strategist and a longtime bull. Back inhe told me that we were at the very start of a classic bull market, and he reiterated his bullish view periodically, particularly inwhen many investors were growing pessimistic about the prospects for stocks. Clearly, though, market fundamentals are less auspicious than they were eight years ago, when stocks had been battered in the ferocious downturn of the great financial crisis, and investors with foresight and audacity could buy at rock-bottom prices.

It has climbed to 22, well above its five-year average of Consider that in Februarythe ratio plummeted to That moment was a turning point for the market, which has surged upward ever since. It may not be at a peak now, but investors are inhaling rarefied air, whether they know it or not.

Yet it can be argued, as Mr. Birinyi does, that corporate earnings are rising, the economy is expanding nicely, and investors have been reacting fairly cautiously, keeping valuations within reasonable, if not optimal, bounds. On the other hand, prices have certainly leapt since Election Day in response to the possibility that the Trump administration and Congress will agree on legislation that could enrich American companies: The increasing likelihood of forex rollover interest calculator Federal Reserve interest rate increase would have been a problem a year money making members runescape, Mr.

Birinyi said, but it is a stock market dow jones january 2016 portent at this stage, because it signals that the central bank is convinced that the economy is in good shape and will keep expanding. That said, he also warned that in the current market, restraint and agility are important.

And if little is accomplished in Washington to fulfill investor expectations — or if there is an external shock, such as an international crisis — the market could fall sharply, Mr. Furthermore, if the economy falters in such situations, the long rally in stocks could end violently.

French market stockbridge can be accomplished by allocating stock market dow jones january 2016 portfolio appropriately between stocks and bonds, depending on age mini forex real time quotes tolerance for risk, perhaps using diversified, low-cost mutual funds or exchange-traded fundsin which professional managers do the work for you, merely by tracking broad indexes or by picking a variety of individual securities.

If, for example, you will need a chunk of your portfolio for a down payment on a house or to pay a tuition bill or to replace a roof or buy a car, you may want to liquidate some of it now, congratulating yourself on your gains. In any case, it is surely wise to make sure, after a remarkable run in the stock market, that you will be able to handle a sharp downturn when it eventually comes.

We all have to live with our own choices. A version of this article appears in print on March 5,on Page BU6 of the New York edition with the headline: Soaring Market Is a Problem, but a Nice One.

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