Dow 10,000. What Does It Mean?

Everyone seems to be making a big deal about the Dow Jones Industrial Average passing through 10,000 again. Republicans are simply gushing with excitement; Democrats are simply moaning as if they had been mortally wounded. So what does Dow 10,000 really signify?

Nothing.

It merely means that the 30 stocks of the average have combined to reach a certain level at which there aggregate average works out to 10,000. It doesn't mean the economy is booming. It doesn't mean that everything will be a utopia anytime soon. It's a number, that's all.

I remember the first time the Dow went through 10,000. People were excited. It was an amazing psychological achievement, but in the grand scheme of things, it really didn't mean anything then either. The stock market isn't an accurate guage of the economy. Sometimes it leads the economy; sometimes it lags. Dow 10,000 was, and still is, a psychological barrier. Just like 9,500 or 10,500. Passing it is nice, and it feels like an achievement, but it really doesn't mean anything.

Show me unemployment dropping. Show me steady gains in the GDP. Show me something tangible in the economic numbers. The hubbaloo around Dow 10,000 is much ado about nothing.