Kick The Can
Faced with the potentially catastrophic "fiscal cliff," our law-makers finally swung into action and rode to the rescue. Well, sort of. Congress continued to abide by their "We will solve no problem before its time" -- or, maybe a little after its time -- philosophy. So, an hour or two after the midnight, end-of-year deadline, the Senate finally passed legislation designed to avert the "fiscal cliff" disaster. Assuming the house agrees, and soon, we can all relax.
Well, sort of. Following the new global approach to solving problems, what the Senate really did was kick the can down the road. They raised taxes on those earning more than $250,000. However, as far as cutting expenses goes, they took their cue from Scarlett O'Hara; they'll think about it later. (The draconian spending cuts were simply postponed for two months.)
As a result, 2013 promises to bring us a seemingly unending series of ____ing contests: on raising the debt ceiling again (which is where this all started), the federal budget, and, two months from now, renewed fighting over spending cuts.
2012 Monthly Stock Market Closes Through Year-End
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Dow Index Monthly Closes Through December, 2012 |
December, 4th Quarter, Year-To-Date & Recovery-To-Date Review
Two of the three major U.S. equity indexes posted double-digit gains in 2012. The DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) brought up the rear, closing the year at 13,104.14. Here are some key market stats.
- From Prior Month Close of 13,026 The Dow is up 79 points (0.6%)
- From 52-Week High of 13,610 on October 5: we're down 506 points (3.7%)