market update

Bond-bookie Bill Gross wades into the waters of inflation-protected literature and is decidedly unamused about recent strength in the markets. He resorts to quoting T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men," (and not Yeats!) to insist the center, as in the bond market, cannot hold. After the bang, the whimper, and all that, his blog post's first rather pedestrian suggestion is to purchase TIPs if you're among the many who can't purchase land in New Zealand. Later in his list of suggestions, he does offer meatier bits such as, "Be cognizant of property rights and confiscatory policies in all governments."

And yet, despite Gross's glooming over the monetary system and unemployment inching higher (enough other positive indicators to send the curious off the couch and back into the job market), the Dow Jones Industrial Average appears to have closed above 14,000 for only the ninth time in its history. According to Christina Rexrode in The Huffington Post,

If there's dissent over what Dow 14,000 means, what's undeniable is that it's a rarefied event: The Dow has crossed 14,000 only 15 times in its history, and the last time was more than five years ago, on Oct. 17, 2007.

If the gains hold throughout the day and the Dow closes above 14,000, that would put it in territory even more uncommon. On just nine days has the Dow managed to stay above the 14,000 mark until the end of trading. Friday's gains also mean that the Dow is within striking distance of its all-time record of 14,164.53, which it reached on Oct. 9, 2007.  

Now I'm waffling between quick conclusions:

a) everything will be fine

and

b) let's enjoy our last nine months together

and

c) remember to hedge your bets

and

d) oh, yeah, i get it; Eliot worked in a bank

and

e) several of these above

Anon.