Courtesy of Pam Martens
On January 26, 2018 the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a new record high of 26,616.71. Despite setting new highs multiple times thereafter, the moves were so negligible on a percentage basis that the reality is that the stock market has been a real dog over the past year and a half. This past Friday, the Dow closed at 26,797.46. That’s a meager 180.75 points, or less than a one percent move, in 19 months. That’s not exactly the stuff that retirement dreams are built on.
But if you’re a typical American who has to rely on headlines or TV sound bites to tell you what’s going on in the market because you’re too busy working long hours, running the kids to dentist appointments and soccer games, doing grocery shopping and laundry on the weekends, then you may have been fooled by corporate media into thinking the stock market has been doing great. Here’s why.
Every major newspaper in America has been running headlines all year touting the news that the stock market is setting new highs. Unfortunately, corporate media rarely explains what this new high means in percentage terms on an annualized basis. That means that corporate media is leaving out the most essential measure of how your money is working for you in the stock market.
Here’s a sampling:
On July 3, 2019, USA Today reported that “Dow, U.S. stocks hit record highs on rate cut hopes ahead of July 4th.” There is nothing in the article that gives the reader what this new high means as a percentage return year over year, year-to-date, or for any period of time.
On April 23, 2019 CNN blasted the headline: “US stocks hit new record highs.” The reporting went like this:
…
