Will the Dow hit or go above 13,000 Today ?

 psychologically important level of 13,000, the S&P 500 reclaims almost all of the losses sustained since June 2008, and the NASDAQ nears its highest level in a decade, the chorus gets louder and louder:The Dow Jones industrial average briefly broke through the 13,000 barrier for the first time since May 2008 in early trading Tuesday, extending its gains since the bear market low to nearly 100% "Is it time to get back into stocks?"

How the Dow has performed

Dow Jones industrial average, 5 years.

Stocks have also been benefiting from an ongoing economic recovery, historically low interest rates and stocks trading at below-average price levels vs. corporate earnings.

On a more sober note, the blue-chip measure of 30 stocks first closed above 13,000 on April 25, 2007. That means the Dow has gone virtually nowhere over the past four years. Stocks "shouldn't" be here with Europe collapsing, earnings dropping, and every other thing you can think of apparently working against us.

The Federal Reserve has kept short-term interest rates at the current level of zero to a quarter of a percent for more than three years, and in its last meeting said that low rates could extend through 2014."Dow 13,000 is telling us that the fears, and all the financial Armageddon stories, might have been overdone," says James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management.
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The last time the Dow Jones was above 13,000, the unemployment rate in the U.S. was 5.4 per cent, far below today's 8.3 per cent.