Stock Market Quietly Sneaks Up on All-Time High

The total return version of the broadest measure of the stock market, the Wilshire 5000 Total Return Index, is quietly approaching an all-time high. “Total return” means it includes dividends.

We have to remember that small-cap stocks have done much better than the large-cap indexes over the past nine years. That’s why the Wilshire 5000 Total Return Index is nearing its high while the S&P 500 is still far away.

Yesterday, the Wilshire 5000 Total Return Index closed at 52.95 which is the highest level since July 28th. If we get another 5% rally, we’ll eclipse the post-crash high which was 55.54 on April 29, 2011. And we need another 8.4% rally to break the all-time peak of 57.39 from October 9, 2007.

Of course, these aren’t very good returns — but they are positive!

Posted by on January 11th, 2012 at 12:23 pm


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