24/7 Wall St.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average , measured by the DIAMONDS (NYSE: DIA) is back above 12,000 again.  Keep in mind that the low on October 4, just 23 days ago, was 10,362.26.  The last day the DJIA was trading above 12,000 was August 2. The high for the year was 12,928.45 on May 2.  The market is up 232 at 12,101.46 after about 20 minutes of trading.

Europe and Asia led us lower, as did our credit debacle, and now it is the Europeans leading us higher.  This week is another turning point as well in that we have indications that China and India are not going to continue putting on the brakes to fight inflation.

What is interesting is that many are still skeptical that the European situation is resolved.  $1.4 trillion could buy Greece several times over, but what about Italy?  The new underlying talk is that Italian debt is going to be the next crunch that gets far worse than what we saw in recent weeks.  Spain, Portugal, and Ireland remain issues as well.  The DJIA winners so far are as follows:

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA): $11.02, up $0.66 or 6.3%
 
Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE: CAT): $95.58, up $4.01 or 4.38%

DuPont, or E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD): $48.08, up $1.98 or 4.30%

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE): $16.89, up $0.54 or 3.30%

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ): $26.92, up $1.17 or 4.52%

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) $36.12, up $1.94 or 5.68%

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) $79.69, up $2.68 or 3.47%

Will DJIA 12,000 hold up?  For now, the trade remains: RISK ON!

JON C. OGG