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| Dow passes intraday trading record; markets seem undaunted by Washington ... - Washington Post Posted: 05 Mar 2013 09:18 AM PST The benchmark Dow Jones industrial average reached an all-time high Tuesday on news that China was pledging to plow more money into its economy, returning the markets to highs not seen since before the 2008 financial crisis. By noon Tuesday, the Dow was up more than 145 points, or 1.03 percent, to 14,273.70, blowing past both an intraday record and a closing record that were both set in October 2007, during a time when the economy was just peaking and headed toward disaster. The previous intraday-trading high was 14,198.10; the closing record was 14,164.53. A little more than five years later, the crisis seems a distant memory for a number of big U.S. companies that are reporting record profits, even though many Americans remain jobless and wages have stagnated. The country's most famous index tracks the stock prices of 30 companies, including such iconic firms as IBM, General Electric and JPMorgan, and it is weighted by price. IBM, which carries by far the most weight in the Dow Jones index, has risen more than 80 percent in the last five years. Even a company like Hewlett-Packard, which also is on the index and has struggled to find its footing in recent years, has seen its shares jump more than 40 percent so far this year. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, another oft-cited measure for the market, was also heading toward its record high Tuesday morning, jumping about 15 points, or 1.02 percent, to 1,540.69. Tuesday's market gains came as the Chinese government announced overnight it was maintaining a growth target of 7.5 percent for this year. The government said it plans to increase spending to support the country's economy after a slip in growth last year. The Dow's record high confirmed that the ongoing political paralysis in Washington has failed to spook the markets much in the past year. As lawmakers and President Obama lurch from one fiscal deadline to the next — from the debt-ceiling crisis in 2011 to the fiscal cliff to the steep budget cuts triggered last week — the markets have soldiered on with hardly a bump. "The stock market and the American public are looking at the political theater with a jaundiced eye," said Ted Weisberg from the New York Stock Exchange, where he has been a trader on the floor for more than four decades. The markets hardly reacted on March 1, when severe domestic and defense cuts went into effect. The Dow Jones Industrial even rose 0.25 percent that day. A popular index for gauging fear in the markets called the CBOE Volatility Index, or the VIX, dropped nearly one percent. Wall Street's reactions have developed into a pattern of near-indifference followed by optimism when a political resolution is found. In the days building up to the fiscal cliff at the end of last year, the markets were sanguine. But when a compromise was reached on New Year's Day, the Dow surged more than 308 points, or 2.35 percent. The S&P 500 jumped 36.25 points, or 2.54 percent. Many on Wall Street feel they've seen this movie before, even dismissing the dire warnings of politicians as all theater. "My sense is that our president and the White House are crying wolf," Weisberg said of President Obama's warnings about the sequester last week. Yu-Dee Chang, chief trader at Ace Investment Strategists in Vienna, Va., said the impact of the sequester is being felt more strongly in Washington than on Wall Street. Investors have been less worried about the cuts themselves, which may be dramatic but still represent a tiny sliver of the national deficit. Chang also noted that stock prices have been boosted by the Federal Reserve's massive stimulus program that has pushed down both long- and short-term interest rates. The low rates have encouraged investors to seek out higher returns in the stock market. "The market has the Fed behind its back," Chang said. "Everyone is still looking for that yield. . . That's why the Fed strategy is working." Adjusted for inflation, the Dow is still about 10 percent off the 2007 high. Nevertheless, the market still has shown a remarkable turnaround since the crisis, at least compared to other measures like the country's economic growth and joblessness figures. People eyeing their retirement portfolios may be cheering the market's return to pre-recession levels. But how much longer can the good times last? Ed Easterling, founder and president of investment firm Crestmont Holdings, says that stocks are at a point that's "about as good as they can get, absent a bubble." "It's time to be careful," he said. Staff writer Ylan Q. Mui contributed to this report. |
| 1000 flights canceled as storm takes aim at Chicago - Chicago Tribune Posted: 05 Mar 2013 09:12 AM PST WGN-TV's Tom Skilling updates his forecast on today's snowstorm. More than 1,000 flights have been canceled in Chicago as a fierce winter storm threatens to dump as much as 10 inches of wind-whipped snow in time for the evening commute. Airlines at O'Hare International Airport have canceled more than 850 flights because of the storm but are so far not reporting significant delays, according to the Aviation Department. More than 230 flights have been canceled at Midway Airport, and Southwest Airlines has cancelled all of its flights there between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Metra has canceled one afternoon train on its Metra Electric District Line -- Train No. 737 scheduled to leave Chicago at 5:20 p.m. and arrive in Flossmoor at 6:01 p.m. Passengers can take the 5:23 p.m. train No. 757, which will make extra stops between Hazel Crest and Flossmoor. Dozens of schools are also closed today or are planning to close early. Check here for list. Forecasters are predicting 4 to 8 inches will fall on the Chicago area by tonight, with 10 inches possible in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. An inch or more per hour is expected at the height of the storm this afternoon and evening. Already, between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., 1½ inches of snow fell in DeKalb, with an inch falling in Elburn in the 90 minutes before 7:42 a.m., according to the National Weather Service. National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Krein said the city is expected to receive 6 to 8 inches from today's storm. Heavier pockets of snowfall — around 10 inches — could hit parts of the suburbs, he said. Krein said O'Hare International Airport only received trace snowfall — or less than one-tenth of an inch — from midnight to 6 a.m. The National Weather service will take the next snowfall measurement at noon, he said. "The whole area's going to be hit pretty hard," predicted Richard Castro, a meteorologist with the weather service in Romeoville. Light snow started to fall in the area shortly before daybreak but state police said roads were generally clear. Snow is expected to begin accumulating at the tail end of the morning rush hour, said Ben Deubelbeiss, another meteorologist in Romeoville. "It'll probably start to get bad around 10," he said. The weather service has issued a winter storm warning for the region from 9 p.m. through midnight. Originally, the warning was to go into effect at 3 a.m., but its approach has been slower than expected. By the afternoon, the storm will get intense with high winds and snow falling at an inch and a half per hour at times, making it difficult for snowplows to keep up. The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation dispatched its fleet of more than 280 trucks early this morning to begin salting and clearing the city's main streets. Crews have removed median barriers on Lake Shore Drive, just north of Oak Street, according to Peter Scales, spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation. "When a storm of this magnitude is approaching, it is now standard protocol to remove the barriers before the storm hits, to make certain the access points are available before the snow starts to fall," Scales wrote in an email. The Illinois Tollway has activated its fleet of 182 snowplows. Tuesday's snow totals could be just enough to turn around an otherwise dry winter. Amy Seeley, another weather service meteorologist, said it's unlikely the maximum amount would fall at O'Hare International Airport, where the weather service takes official measurements. But if it did, the 10 inches would bump this winter's snowfall a tenth of an inch above the season-to-date average. "It would put us right there," Seeley said, noting she's still expecting closer to 7 or 8 inches at O'Hare. Though the city has seen its share of snow in 2013, it's still behind yearly averages for this time of year, Krein said. At the end-of-day Monday, O'Hare had measured 19.8 inches of snowfall for the 2012-2013 snow season, he said. The average for this time of year is 30.5 inches. The largest snowfall measured this season at O'Hare was 4.8 inches on Feb. 26, Krein said. We may be behind in snowfall, but precipitation levels are high, Krein said. Since Jan. 1, O'Hare has measured 6.61 inches of precipitation, almost doubling the average of 3.83 inches for this time of year. "Our precipitation levels are above normal because of heavier rains that came in large chunks over a few days," Krein said. "We're definitely well below average snowfall but our actual precipitation levels are 2.78 inches above normal." |
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