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http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/15/investing/dow-20000-stocks-all-time-highs/index.htmlby: Paul R. La Monica
Will the Dow soon hit 20,000? Don't laugh. It's less than 8% -- or 1,500 points -- away from this milestone.
To quote 1980s standup comedian Judy Tenuta, "It could happen!" And Dow 20,000 isn't as crazy a prediction as the famous Dow 36,000 one from the book by James Glassman -- way back in 1999. But who wasn't drinking the market Kool-Aid then?
Here's why Dow 20K isn't that farfetched of an expectation.
U.S. stocks have been riding a bullish wave of momentum for the past few weeks.
The Dow and S&P 500 are back at all-time highs. The Nasdaq still has a ways to go before it hits a new record, but the tech-heavy index is once again above 5,000 -- a key psychological level.
Simply put, investors are realizing that they have to put their money somewhere.
European stocks are perceived as being a huge risk following Brexit.
There are also still big concerns about the health of China and other emerging markets.
Oil? Commodities have started to retreat again after a temporary supply shock pushed it back above $50.
Bonds? Have fun doing a word that rhymes with "kissing" your money away in low-yielding Treasuries or European and Japanese bonds that actually have yields below zero.
So American stocks, for better or for worse, still seem to be the cleanest dirty shirt -- a reference to a Johnny Cash lyric that bond king Bill Gross has often used to describe the U.S. markets.
Investors seem to appreciate the fact that the U.S. -- despite concerns about sluggish growth and the upcoming presidential election -- is still much more stable than most other major developed and developing countries.
"The U.S. is our favorite place to be. Slow growth is better than no growth," said Vince Rivers, manager of the JOHCM US Small Mid Cap Equity Fund.
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