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How else can you explain the fact that the Dow Jones industrial average is now trading at six-year highs despite all-time-record prices for crude oil? The Dow was up an additional 40 points or so in early trading Friday, bringing its weekly gain above 300 points. But it's not just the Dow. The Nasdaq composite index is trading as high as it has been since 2001 (though, at 2355, the tech-heavy index is still well off its record high of 5048 set in March 2000).
Several developments appear to have contributed to the newfound euphoria on Wall Street. For starters, the Federal Reserve seems to be nearing an end to its two-year-long series of interest rate hikes (or at least that's what the Fed said earlier this week).
Moreover, corporate earnings continue to shine. Earlier this week, the troubled automaker General Motors actually managed to beat analysts' expectations with its first-quarter results. The nation's leading automaker still reported a huge operating loss, but the loss wasn't as big as investors had predicted.
This morning, another major Dow component, 3M, also reported strong earnings in the first quarter, a reflection of the ongoing global industrial boom. And Google, though not a Dow component, still managed to influence the broad market by posting better-than-expected earnings, which was taken as a harbinger of good things for the tech sector.
All of this seemed to negate the bad news in the energy markets, where crude oil futures prices rose above $74 a barrel. Oil traders are clearly bracing for a supply shock involving Iran or Nigeria, which are both in the top 10 of oil-producing nations.
But for today, at least, Wall Street looked the other way.
