By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 9, 2019 ~

On October 3, 2018 the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 26,828. Yesterday, the same stock market index that is watched around the world closed at 26,806 – a loss of 22 points from where it stood nine months ago. If you’ve been invested all this time you’ve essentially gone nowhere plus you’ve had the not so rollicking fun of that brutal 4,000-point plunge from December 3 to Christmas eve 2018, which took the Dow from a close of 25,826 on December 3 to a Christmas eve close of 21,792.

Closing Price of Dow Jones Industrial Average on October 3, 2018 (Source: BigCharts.com)

Closing Price of Dow Jones Industrial Average on July 8, 2019 (Source: BigCharts.com)

So the next time you read that the Dow is setting new highs, do the math and see just how many points you’ve actually gained since October 3, 2018.