US DJIA closed at all-time high 16,580

The Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA) closed at an all-time high 16,580 on Wednesday 30.04.2014. This rose above its previous record closing high of 16,576.66 recorded on 31.12.2013.

 

Three of its widely tracked indexes rose overnight in US. They are :-

 

1) DJIA rose 45.47 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,580.84.

2) S&P500 gained 5.62 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,883.95.

3) NASDAQ composite climbed 11.01 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,114.56.

I was excited with the US stock market performance despite my very limited exposure to their stock market. Nevertheless this certainly lifted the mood and sentiment here. It is always feel better when US market is up rather than down. As usual, all the doomsayers continue to pour cold water. In fact, they have been at that since last year when DJIA hit 16,000, NASDAQ hit 4,000 and S&P hit 1,800 points. Sadly, their doom stories will come true one day for sure but it is not now. Enjoy the good time while it lasts but always be vigilant.

Stocks Component of DJIA

DJIA hitting its first record close of the year came at the time when Federal Reserve further reduces its monthly bond purchases. It trimmed its monthly asset purchases to $45 billion, making its fourth consecutive $10 billion cut. However, Wall Street seems to welcome the news. Their central bank said the economy has gained traction recently after a sharp slowdown.  I think the Fed gives what the investors are expecting and this provides stability, hence Wall Street welcomes the news.

NYSE at Wall Street

Most important, the Fed intends to keep interest rates near zero until 2015 and this may come true.

 

Coming back home here, the KLCI index is holding quite steadily as well despite some sell-down in small cap stocks few days ago. KLCI recorded an all-time high close of 1,871 yesterday 30.04.2014. But the excitement is somewhat muted.