BT,
You are correct, the index did hit 6,500. However, it started at 13k and is now about 16.5k. If you would have bought an index at 6500, you would be pretty happy right about now. What I was saying was that over the entire period from the beginning of the recession until now, the market is up 3,500. Most of this occurred with the shedding of jobs and debt on the part of major corporations.
When you consider US exports, again it isn't as bad as you might think. Cokes price dropped due to a soft revenue quarter, some of it had to do with the dollar, while most of it had to do with the changing market and a plant closing in Brazil. People are figuring out that soda is bad and are seeking alternatives. Here are the top US exports as of 2013:
Machinery: $213,108,199,000 (13.5% of total exports)Electronic equipment: $165,604,449,000 (10.5%)Mineral fuels including oil: $148,426,743,000 (9.4%)Vehicles excluding trains and streetcars: $133,640,479,000 (8.5%)Aircraft and spacecraft: $115,380,944,000 (7.3%)Optical, technical and medical apparatus: $84,281,276,000 (5.3%)
My belief is that any loss in global revenue should be balanced out by the recovering economy in this country. It is important to remember, our previous boom was a result of an artificially inflated real estate market, this is not the case today. As a result, the economy is in a much better position for a smooth, but slow recovery.
Looking at oil prices, OPEC has been the controller of that price for over 40 years, that might be changing as Mexico is increasing output and we are fraking the night away.
In a nutshell, Europe did ok when our economy was in the tank, I think we can survive their downturn.
