As everybody gets back into their routines, and hopefully recovering from that crazy cold/sinus/flu bug that snagged a few of us, it’s time to acknowledge a ‘first’ and do a little celebrating. The following article is a composite from several business and market resources. As the old saying goes, numbers don’t lie – though sometimes we like them and sometimes we don’t. And last year, everybody that had money properly invested did very well. Let’s look.

“America is having its greatest stock market rally ever! The DOW increased by more than 5,000 points in 2019 making it the greatest year in Stock Market history.

After President Trump was elected the stock markets exploded. The markets are a gauge of the economy and include expectations of the future (this is important because markets are forward looking). On November 8th, 2016, the DOW stood at 18,332. Since that date the DOW has soared.

On Tuesday, the 31st, the DOW closed out the year 2019 at 28,538 or 10,206 points higher than the day of the 2016 election!

Never has has the DOW risen so much in such a short period of time. This is historic.

Not only has the DOW skyrocketed since the election, the market’s rise is record breaking.

President Trump’s first year in office (2017) saw the most all-time stock market closing highs (71) as well as the largest single year increase in DOW history (4,956 points) up to that year. This was the record until 2019.

Prior to 2017, no year in the DOW’s more than 100-year history ever saw the DOW increase by more than 3,500 points.

In 2017 the DOW set a record for largest increase ever at nearly 5,000 points until this year. (The most all-time highs in a year prior to 2017 was 69 in 1995.) At the end of last year (2018) the DOW landed at 23,327. Although 2018 was not a positive year, the market was well ahead of where it started in 2016. In 2019 the DOW was up more than 5,000 points (5,210) for the first time ever.

Since the 2016 election, the DOW tied the record for the most all-time closing highs in a row. In January of 1987 President Reagan saw the DOW increase to new all-time highs, a record 12 days in a row. In February of 2017, President Trump matched Reagan’s record.

The DOW reached its fastest 500 point increase between major milestones under President Trump. In January of 2018 the DOW surpassed 26,000 and six days later the DOW surpassed 26,500. Under President Trump the DOW has seen the fastest 1,000; 2,000; 3,000; 4,000; 5,000; 6,000; 7,000, 8,000 and 9,000 point increases in DOW history. No similar records occurred at any time in history.

Also, there was no ‘wave’ from the previous administration as the DOW under Obama was down in 2015 and stayed relatively flat until the 2016 election. The DOW is now officially up more than 55% since the 2016 election.

Presidents GW Bush and Obama did not reach any new all-time high in their entire first terms. Presidents (Franklin) Roosevelt, Truman and Carter never reached a new all-time high in their Presidencies.

President Trump has now increased the markets by more than any other President in their entire Presidency (when counting from their election win to the election day in their last year in office.) This is a new event.

All the major indices, like the NASDAQ, have risen considerably and many records have been set.”

In addition to this good news for investors, the unemployment rates are at all time lows. Minority group unemployment is the lowest ever since we started recording. By all accounts, we are in the best economy in 70 years, with the unemployment rate falling to 3.6%, the lowest since 1969.

There are many more numbers that go into the overall economic outlook, but suffice it to say, thus far, the outlook for 2020+ is very good. Does that mean we’re going to ‘melt up’ as one pundit put it? There is no crystal ball, but the markets apparently are reacting positively to companies being able to grow and expand their market share, including small businesses.

This last part is the critical point: In the US, there are 30.2 million small businesses and as of 2018, 99.9% of US businesses are small businesses. In 2017, small businesses employed more than 47.5% of the private workforce in the US and account for 1.9 million new jobs. That number has increased significantly since then.

Where small businesses go, so goes the economy. They’re one reason America is so successful compared with other nations. The tax cuts and cutting onerous regulations have allowed small businesses to thrive once again and new ones to start up. Who knows where the next ‘big thing’ will come from.

In conclusion, it’s a pretty good place to start the year. It’s also a good time to review your investment strategies and plans. And we can help with that.

Best regards,

J’Neanne