Dow Jones Reaches 2008 Levels in March 2010

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Back in early 2008, the stock market was doing quite well, and many felt that the good times were going to keep going. As we all know now, this was not the case and the stock market took a tough hit later on in 2008, and only now is the market reaching its 2008 levels, after a very tough 2009.

Speculations about Fed move to leave interest rates as-is helps the Market

As the third week of March reached its midway point, stocks continued to increase in value and come closer to making investors more confident in a market that has had tough times in the past year. However, there is speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve is going to be leaving the key interest rate at its current level, while the economy continues to improve. Thanks to this speculation, many investors are more confident in the market and open to investing in the New York Stock Exchange.

There are several reasons for the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep the key interest rate low including the fact that the producer prices in the United States fell by just under one percent in February. As a result, the U.S. Federal Reserve is hoping to keep inflation from growing by keeping interest rates low. It is also expected that the U.S. dollar will be falling, while commodity prices rise in value.

Market on a roll in March 2010

Back to how the market is doing, on Wednesday the market improved for a seventh day in a row, rising by .5 percent (47.69 points) to finish at 10,733.67. These gains are important because they completely erase the value decreases that occurred in January of this year. The Dow Jones is not the only index up either. The S&P 500 was up .6 percent, but 6.75 points to finish at 1166.21 points.

This week, the biggest increases have been from the commodity producers, who have seen the stocks of the biggest companies rising by as much as five percent. However, technology stocks were not doing as well, with large companies falling as much as one percent in value. Energy stocks also increased in value with crude oil finishing at $83 per barrel, and several energy companies saw their stocks increase in value as well. Joining technology stocks in falling were the financials, which were quite flat during the first part of the week. As well, gold fell slightly in value before stabilizing.

This is the time to start investing again!

With seven straight days of growth for the market, and the expectation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep the key interest rate the way it is, many investors are gaining more confidence in the market. This is leading investors to putting more money in stocks, which should help the market continue to gain more ground. Financial stocks may have been flat the past few days, but they have continued to rise in value over the past few months. As well, energy stocks continue to increase in value, which will help hold up the market while worries about retail sales cause commodity and technology stocks to fall.

Further Reading

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