A cheer rang up from traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday morning as the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 18,000 points for the first time ever. The index, which stood at 16,264 a year ago, closed at 18,024 Tuesday afternoon, having risen 1,000 points in the last week alone. The media referred to the last several days of trading—which also saw the S&P 500 index reach record high—as a “Santa Claus rally.” This spike in share values was attributed to rising consumer spending, falling gas prices and a supposedly “roaring” US economy. In reality, Wall Street is celebrating the sharp reduction of workers’ wages and living standards that have sparked record corporate profits and the Fed’s policy of unlimited free money, which has fueled a new speculative bubble. Behind this, however, are intractable contradictions in the US and world economy, which will inevitably lead to a new market “correction.”
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 21:48:25 +0000
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