Stocks top 13,000 mark on reports of GDP growth & Europe financial hopes
The Dow Jones passed the all important psychological barrier of 13,000, ending the day at 13,075. Stocks were boosted by a slightly higher than expected GDP growth of 1.5%. Stocks also rallied on hopes that Europe will still be able to come to a deal to solve their financial woes.
While economic growth in the US is still far from where the economy needs to be, growth is still happening under Obama. Obama choose the investment route to fix the economy, while Europe chose the austerity route, a plan favored by republicans. Under the Europe’s austerity plan, their economy is expected to continue to shrink in 2012 while the US economy is projected to continue to grow.
On the day Obama was inaugurated, stocks were at 7,949. That’s a more than 5,000 point increase since Obama took office and just over 1,000 points shy of the Dow Jones all time high of 14,164 reached in October of 2007. While their is still much to do to fully repair our economy and see significant growth, these are positive trends and signs for Obama policy and his re-election chances.
(Charts are courtesy of CNNMoney)
