From Barrons
March 15, 1999
Almost There
As the Dow stalls just shy of 10,000, bulls and bears agree on one thing
interactive.wsj.com
Happily, many market commentators remain upbeat about the market's prospects, despite the pyrotechnics of recent months. No one is more identified with the 'Nineties bull market than Goldman Sachs' celebrated market doyenne Abby Joseph Cohen. Calling late Friday from her alma mater, Cornell University, where she was attending a trustees' meeting, Cohen was upbeat on the prospects for both the economy and stock market.
This is the time of year that she and her associates methodically go through the entire S&P 500, company by company, to refine their earnings estimates for the index for the current year and develop preliminary earnings forecasts for next year. The effort hasn't been completed, but Cohen asserted that S&P operating profits will be higher in both 1999 and 2000 and the economy is doing just fine, thank you, creating new, decent-paying jobs, bolstering consumer confidence and continuing to dissipate all the despair and anxiety that spurred last year's market correction.
"The economy is in absolutely terrific condition, and nothwithstanding the huge rise in stock prices since last September, stock prices should continue to rise in the months ahead," she asserted.
Let's hope she's right. At least then, we can confidently toast the arrival of Dow 10,000 as we never could Dow 1000.
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Abby is still bullish. I'm with her. Is anybody surprised?
Barry
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