The New Exchange / The Dow Is Now Positive for the Year

**Posted by Common Sense** 3/17/2016 12:49 pm

The Dow Is Now Positive for the Year

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-17/the-dow-is-now-positive-for-the-year

After one of the worst starts to the year on record, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is now in positive territory for the year after moving up 0.7 percent on Thursday.

Positive economic data as well as a decision by the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates on hold at its meeting this week have helped boost the index and riskier assets, including crude oil, with West Texas Intermediate now above $40 a barrel. The S&P 500 is also just 0.5 percent away from turning positive for 2016, though the Nasdaq Composite is still 5 percent in the red for the year.

**Posted by tennyson** 3/17/2016 1:03 pm

On Jan 20th 2009 when Obama took office the DOW stood at 7849 thus it is up over 200% in that timeframe. It had pretty good ride and a long "bull market". The likelihood that the DOW can continue this upward trend much longer is rather tenuous. We are seeing some cracks but no breakage as of yet.Every so many years we get technical corrections. There are some warning signs of a slowdown, but a little too early to tell.

**Posted by tennyson** 3/17/2016 2:43 pm

Here is an interesting article I read about the market for people in or nearing retirement. Worth a gander.

Why buy-and-hold is a bad idea for retirees

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-buy-and-hold-is-a-bad-idea-for-retirees-2016-03-17

(P.S. I will say that the info is based on if a lot of your retirement income is derived from the market (401K, etc). IF you have a pension that is a required payout that can change your calculus to allow you more flexibility)

Last edited by tennyson (3/17/2016 2:45 pm)