Wall Street handed investors an early Valentine's Day gift yesterday as the Dow Jones industrial average broke through its 365-day high of 3,953.88 and closed up 15.14 points at 3,954.21. At this level, the Dow stands only 24 points below its all-time high. Investors will now focus on the January retail sales figures, due to be released today.
HEARTWARMERS: "Last week's breakout in the Dow Jones utility index above its August peak is a good sign that the November trough was a significant low. The Dow utility index is often a market indicator." (S.G. Warburg Market Strategy) . . . "Our market outlook remains decidedly bullish. Sentiment remains very pessimistic, and there's plenty of cash to push stocks higher." (The Daily Trader) . . . "Interest rates may rise moderately, but select U.S. stocks will not only exceed expectations in 1995, but will also outperform most major world indices." (Lancz Letter)
HEARTBREAKERS: "1995's risk is extremely high. With all the problems now facing the economy and Wall Street, I don't see how stocks and bonds can do well." (Greg Smith, Prudential Securities) . . . "There is not one aspect of our short- or long-term work that offers the market the benefit of any doubts. We're bears." (Crosscurrents) . . . "We're now entering the second phase of the bear market. Most mutual fund buying occurred over the past three years. The rally is almost finished and the Dow will again head south in a significant way." (Joseph Granville)
CUPID'S CARDS: Here are more of your postcard comments in our 1995 Dow Jones Ticker contest: "I'll say Dow Jones 4,140 at year end. An 8 percent gain seems reasonable after poor performance." (George Blair) . . . "A handful of stocks make new highs while hundreds make new lows. Major decline long overdue. Look out below, it'll be DJ 1,200." (Harry Schwartz) . . . "Slow gain; Dow 4,268; Clinton doesn't help." (Frank Leffler)
"An uncertain market trying to find itself will end at 3,773." (Adolph Paris, contest book winner in 1993) . . . "Rising interest rates will hold stocks back. I say 3,895." (Willard Karner) . . . "I'm optimistic and bullish. U.S. will get its act together as she has so often in the past. I pick 4,178." (Ralph Edwards) . . . "1995 will be slow and steady; nothing dramatic. I say 4,065." (William McGeown)
LOVE THAT CUSTOMER: "There is only one boss! The Customer! And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." (Sam Walton, WalMart) . . . "An IBM executive says, 'We make 400,000 computer components. If 97 percent are OK, that means 12,000 were defective. We really don't need 12,000 angry customers, do we?'" (Tom Peters via Downtown Press)
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SWEET THOUGHTS: "Love what you do, and you'll never have to work another day in your life." (Overheard somewhere) . . . "Money can't buy love, but it improves your bargaining position." (Christopher Marlowe) . . . "The love of money as a possession -- not as a means to the enjoyment of life -- shows a disgusting morbidity and a semi-criminal pathology." (John Maynard Keynes, 1930)
BROKEN HEARTS: "It's OK to fall in love with a man, it's OK to fall in love with a woman, but never fall in love with your stocks; they can break your heart." (William Allnutt, late Baltimore stockbroker)
CANDY HEARTS: Despite Mr. Allnutt's advice, here's the other side: "The best results come from holding good stocks through thick and thin, and not worrying too much about the ups and downs of the market." (Robert Merrill in "Financial Independence Through Common Stocks") . . . "Don't worry about the stock market, the economy or the Federal Reserve. Just buy stocks of fast-growing companies whose products you can draw with a crayon." (Peter Lynch in "One Up on Wall Street.") . . . "What I've found is that investors make big money in stocks they hold a long time." (Lucien Hooper, late Wall St. veteran)
LOCAL LOVE NOTES: "McCormick, a first-class producer of spices and seasonings, is less than one quarter away from a turnaround." (Positive Patterns) . . . Mathias DeVito, who recently announced that he would retire as chief executive officer of the Rouse Co., is interviewed at length in Financial World, Feb. 21 issue, now on newsstands. ("To invest directly in real estate, you have to be able to find the investment and understand it and have the personal net worth to be able to take advantage of it. Real estate is tricky. For most investors, having publicly traded stocks such as REITs or shares of Rouse stock is the way to play real estate.") . . . Stock exchanges will be closed this coming Monday for Presidents' Day observance.