During his latest "My Take," "Varney & Co." host Stuart Varney discussed the greatness of the bull market that started 40 years ago this week, arguing this is what you get when you "stick with capitalism."
STUART VARNEY: Forty years ago this week, the great bull market began. What a run it’s been!
It was on August 12th. 1982, the Dow closed at 776.69.
For years, stock prices had gone nowhere. Investors were more interested in bonds. And why not? Triple "A" rated corporate paid more than 10%.
But then, things changed.
Interest rates started to fall, and kept on falling. Inflation came down, and until recently, virtually disappeared. Newly created 401(k)s and IRA's pumped enormous amounts of new money into stocks.
And gradually, the market rallied. True there were gut-wrenching selloffs with the crash of '87, the financial crisis of '08 and the pandemic shock in 2020. But by January of this year, the Dow had moved to 36,799.65.
47 times higher than 40 years ago.
I don't know whether the great bull run is over. But the landscape has changed.
Interest rates are going up.
Inflation has come back.
The Federal Reserve is going to stop printing money, and that’s not good for stocks.
And, like it or not, socialism, the exact opposite of prosperity, has made an unwelcome return...
But let’s not dwell on the negatives...we've all had a great run. One hundred million Americans have a stake in the stock market. And we are collectively much more prosperous than 40 years ago. That’s what you get when you stick with capitalism.
