{"id":37239,"date":"2013-04-02T01:53:19","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T05:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=37239"},"modified":"2013-04-02T01:53:19","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T05:53:19","slug":"10-startling-statistics-about-the-sps-record-high-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/04\/02\/10-startling-statistics-about-the-sps-record-high-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Startling Statistics About the S&P\u2019s Record High (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By WallStreetDaily.com<\/u><\/a> <\/p>\n

Yesterday, I set out on a mission to share a handful of startling statistics concerning the S&P 500 Index’s run-up to a new, all-time high.<\/p>\n

If you’re still wondering why we should even care, consider that a heap of money tracks the S&P 500.<\/p>\n

To be exact, there’s $2.7 trillion in open-end mutual funds and $187 billion in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to the Index, according to Morningstar.<\/p>\n

That compares to about $142 million in fund assets tracking the Dow.<\/p>\n

I’m willing to bet that some of your hard-earned capital is included in those totals. In other words, you’ve got “skin in the game,” so to speak. And that’s a pretty good reason to take an interest in the topic at hand, if you ask me.<\/p>\n

So let’s pick up where we left off yesterday<\/a>…<\/p>\n

~Stock Stat #6: Stay Away From Solar!<\/b><\/p>\n

Yesterday I noted how we should be looking for momentum plays (i.e. – the best-performing stocks since the market hit bottom). After all, trends tend to persist in the market.<\/p>\n

Well, the same holds true on the flipside, meaning we should avoid<\/em> stocks that have shown lackluster performance since the market bottom. Because they’re likely to keep struggling.<\/p>\n

And that brings us to First Solar <\/strong>(FSLR<\/a>).<\/p>\n

It’s the worst-performing stock, dropping 75% since March 2009. So much for the “sunny” prospects for solar stocks. (Let the record show, I did warn you here<\/a> and here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

~Stock Stat #7: One Bad Apple Can’t Spoil the Bunch<\/b><\/p>\n

Since the Dow only tracks 30 companies, one or two stocks can heavily influence its performance.<\/p>\n

In fact, the 155% run-up for International Business Machines<\/strong> (IBM<\/a>), from $83 in March 2009 to $213 today, accounted for one-tenth of the Dow’s total gain, according to Standard & Poor’s Howard Silverblatt.<\/p>\n

In contrast, the 500 companies in the S&P Index can’t exert such undue influence. Not even Apple<\/strong> (AAPL<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The stock has slumped a staggering 37.2% since September 2012. (By the way, I told you so<\/a>.) Yet the S&P 500 still marched to a new record high.<\/p>\n

Granted, if Apple’s stock didn’t head south, the S&P 500 would have set a new record on March 5, the same day as the Dow, according to Silverblatt.<\/p>\n

~Stock Stat #8: A Golden Perspective<\/b><\/p>\n

No surprise here, given all the money printing being done by Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke. But if we priced the S&P 500 in grams of gold, we can see that it’s nowhere near a peak…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

~Stock Stat #9: Don’t Underestimate the Power of Dividend Reinvesting<\/b><\/p>\n

It’s official. The Dow and the S&P 500 have both recovered all of their losses since the Great Recession hit.<\/p>\n

Who said buy-and-hold investing was dead?<\/p>\n

And if you bought, held and<\/em> reinvested dividends, your portfolio would be in even better shape.<\/p>\n

A $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 on October 9, 2007 would be worth $11,270 today.<\/p>\n

So instead of being back to breakeven, you would actually be up 12.7%.<\/p>\n

Just something to keep in mind if you’re thinking of bailing on stocks altogether.<\/p>\n

~Stock Stat #10: Far From a Rarity<\/b><\/p>\n

For those of you who might be thinking it’s time to cash in and move out of stocks, just because the market hit a new record high, hold up!<\/p>\n

All-time highs aren’t as rare as you might expect. Especially if we measure the total<\/em> return of the S&P 500, including dividends (not just the price appreciation).<\/p>\n

When we do, the S&P 500 has actually been hitting record highs since April 2, 2012.<\/p>\n

More specifically, the Index hit a total of seven records last year and 26 so far this year, according to The Wall Street Journal’s<\/em> Market Data Group.<\/p>\n

I suspect the number is going to keep growing, too. So don’t miss out.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the tape,<\/p>\n

Louis Basenese<\/p>\n

Article By WallStreetDaily.com<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Original Article: 10 Startling Statistics About the S&P\u2019s Record High (Part 2)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By WallStreetDaily.com Yesterday, I set out on a mission to share a handful of startling statistics concerning the S&P 500 Index’s run-up to a new, all-time high. If you’re still wondering why we should even care, consider that a heap of money tracks the S&P 500. To be exact, there’s $2.7 trillion in open-end mutual … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “10 Startling Statistics About the S&P\u2019s Record High (Part 2)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}