Quote from eagle488:
Its not about people putting money into the DOW components...
Oil is going to come down further because there was not one hurricane this year. There have been no supply disruptions and there was a large find in the gulf. The OPEC nations have had a horrible history in regards to cutting production. In fact, Iran seems to be wavering on the issue back and forth. They are involving themselves in a very expensive atomic research program and they need the cash.
Demand is going to drop as new technology around the globe comes on line. Lets take a look at vehicles, for example. Engines seem to be getting more efficient.
The price of energy is a big expense on the balance sheets for the DJI components. The DJI components have responded to the energy price increases by passing it along to their customers. As energy prices come down, the components will continue to pass it along to their customers. They will charge the same even though they themselves are paying lower energy related costs. If the public accepted the current prices, then not one of the DJI components will respond with price cuts on their final products even if oil came down to $2 per barrel.
The current P/E ratio of the lot is 14.71. This will ultimately expand in the next year or so. As a higher ratio is accepted by the market coupled with strong earnings as a result of energy saving expense and passing along inflated prices to customers, we will see DOW 14000 one year from today.