A new year has started, and there are new high hopes for the stock market, as you can see in this December 21, 2011 headline from USA Today:
Strategists predict a glowing 2012
The article notes that a "quick survey of New Year's prognostications from investment strategists suggests stocks might deliver the double-digit gains that they have put up, on average, over the long term. A snapshot of 2012 year-end-price targets from five firms shows an average gain of 10.5% for stocks."
But, haven't we heard this before?
The 10.5% gains forecasted for the coming year is intriguing considering it is almost exactly the average gains that were forecasted for stocks in 2011. Take this Barron's cover story from December 2010 as a prime example:
OUTLOOK 2011: Our panel of savvy Wall Street strategists expects stocks to rise 10% next year, as an economic expansion takes hold.
But as you know, in 2011 we essentially had a flat market. The DJIA ended up 5.53% for the year, the S&P was flat...while the NASDAQ was down 1.80%. The broadest aggregate measure of stock market performance, the DJ Wilshire 5000, which includes nearly all stocks that trade, ended 2011 down 1%.
And the Dow's action masks a strongly negative stock market performance in the overseas markets.
So, how should you plan for 2012? What's really ahead for the markets, and what does it mean for your portfolio? Will the European credit crisis and U.S. debt debacle continue to loom over the markets or will the economic expansion actually take hold?
Elliott Wave International has just released a free report that will help you navigate the year ahead. You'll get all of the indicators that they have been analyzing over the past year, with 25 eye-opening charts and 14 pages of straightforward commentary to help you see where we've been and what's ahead.
Download your free report now: What will the stock market do in 2012?
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