Milestone raises hopes for investors

The horse may be heading back to the barn.

At least Bob Nelson might put it that way. Nelson, owner of Nelson Securities, said Wednesday’s news that the Dow Jones industrial average topped 10,000 for the first time in a year was an important milestone for people whose investments have taken a beating.

“Now they can see light at the end of the tunnel,” Nelson said.

Several people in the Spokane area expressed a similar cautious optimism about the market’s performance Wednesday: It looks good so far, they said, but there’s still a ways to go when it comes to the overall economy, and jobs in particular.

Donald Lamp, a 63-year-old Spokane retiree, said he’s feeling better about his retirement income after weeks of improvements in the stock market, but he remains concerned generally.

“I’m just worried,” Lamp said. “The unemployment picture is so bad and people are so scared, even if they have a job, that maybe we’ll end up having a double-dip” recession – a short-lived recovery followed by another recession.

Nelson said he’s seen his clients go on an emotional rollercoaster in the past year.

“We held a lot of hands on the way down,” he said.

He and his staff advised people to take a long view and not make snap decisions, like pulling out of the market after a big loss.

“You don’t want to close the barn door after the horse has left, because the horse might decide to turn around and come back,” he said.

Lamp, who retired eight years ago from a position with U.S. Bank, stuck with his investments over the past year.

“I just rode it through,” he said. “I stopped looking at my statements. I guess I’m going to have to start looking again.”

Pat O’Neil said he took a similar tack. “I didn’t bail out,” he said. “I didn’t panic.”

Not that it was always easy. O’Neil, a 42-year-old software developer and father of two, said he watched the value of his investments, including those for retirement and college, cut in half.

“Now I’m looking at 20 percent down instead of 50 percent down,” he said. “I can at least breathe a little sigh of relief.”

C.J. Mayer, a 66-year-old owner of an online company, wasn’t too comforted by the Dow’s performance. He said the rebound is business as usual and reflects the fact that a lot of government money has been pumped into the market by banks and others. He says he expects inflation to become a devastating force in the economy.

“It’s not indicating an end to what we’re afraid of,” Mayer said. “We’re not in a recession. We’re in a depression. It’s just so early that we don’t see the lines in the street yet.”

Nelson said the economy is still far from complete recovery, but he sees Wednesday’s mark as a good sign.

“It’s still significant, to give confidence to people,” he said. “That’s probably the major factor – the psychology of, yeah, we did recover.”