All Time High

Over at the Dow Jones Industrial Average the composite average of 30 stocks has reached an all time high yet again. That's the fourth time in the last two weeks. Certainly that would appear to be good news for Wall Street, Main Street and investors.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 95.57, or 0.81 percent, to 11,947.70. The previous record close from Tuesday was 11,867.17.

The index's gain marked its fifth record close in two weeks. The intraday high set Thursday was 11,959.63, eclipsing an earlier record of 11,872.94 set Monday.

Given all the supposed problems facing the country - a slowdown in the housing market (hooray for people in my position trying to actually buy a house!), gas prices, unemployment, national deficit (hey, didn't it just get cut in half?), this seems to be good news.

So far, earnings reports are pretty good too.

Interest rates are still pretty low, which means businesses and individuals will not have to shell out as much for loans, a key factor in business expansion and people looking to buy homes. The housing markets are starting to moderate, especially in North Jersey, so I've got a better chance of finding the home of our dreams. Some will try and make hay over the fact that the rates now are a quarter to a third of a percent higher now than they were last year, but that's because the Fed raised interest rates a bunch of times in the interim. By historical measures, the rates are still pretty good.