Moving the Market -- Tracking the Numbers / What's Hot...and Not: Investors Get Aggressive as Oil and Dollar Plunge; Hard Chargers Bet Big On Economic Recovery, More Woes for U.S. Dollar
A quirky mix of assets and markets world-wide has benefited from the simultaneous plunge of crude oil and the U.S. dollar, and strategists are pushing advice that hinges on the continuation of those trends.</br></br>No surprise, other commodities besides oil have rallied on the dollar's woes, as have overseas investments, especially companies that produce or sell natural resources. The Dow Jones Japan Financial Index and Dow Jones World Basic Materials Index each gained more than 9% last week. Since November, the Baltic Dry Index, a gauge of shipping costs closely linked to raw-material prices, has jumped nearly 25% to 6134. Gold futures are up 6.6% over the same period to $457.80 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.</br></br>But stock sectors usually associated with more-aggressive investment strategies, such as technology, have also benefited: The Dow Jones World Technology Index gained almost 8% last week. And the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.2%, up 8.8% since November, to 2147.96.</br></br>The upshot, many analysts say, is that investors are betting not just on a continuation of world economic recovery and U.S. dollar weakness, but they are also doing so in especially hard-charging fashion. "This is the theme right now, big time," says James W. Paulsen, chief investment strategist, Wells Capital Management. "People want to be in whatever the most aggressive thing is and get away from the least aggressive."</br></br>Mr. Paulsen says he believes there is good reason to expect a global recovery, although a weak U.S. jobs report Friday showed that there may yet be a few potholes along the way. The Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls grew by only 112,000 jobs in November, well below the 200,000 jobs economists had expected before the data release.