The Stock Market Is Getting More Attractive for Small Investors
The summerÛªs stock market boom made money mostly for Wall Street! professionals, but the record trading activity is begining to make the .market more attractive to small investors.</br></br>For the first time in several years, many analysts are restoring stocks to the growing list of investment opportunities, and suggesting small investors shift their funds from the booming money funds to equity markets. ,</br></br>Personal financial planning has become more complex in recent years as interest rates have become crucial to individual investorsÛª plans. The prime rate, Treasury bill rates, and DonoghueÛªs Money Fund Averages now rank alongside the Dow Jones stock averages as closely watched financial barometers.</br></br>The question facifig investors today is whether a predicted rebound in interest rates will occurÛÓ and if so, when. Higher rates not only would dampen the recovery and curtail the stock marketÛªs boom, but also make interest investments more attractive than stocks.</br></br>Interest rates have dropped substantially this year. As the Dow! Jones Industrial Average enjoyed itsi meteoric three-week rise of 148 points in August, DonoghueÛªs index of money market fund rates declined by 30 percent.