Traders will be anxious to see which way the Dow Jones goes today after New York’s benchmark index closed at a record high of 14,253.  That level is almost 90 points higher than the previous record set in 2007, a year ahead of the financial collapse that triggered the recession.

Some analysts say the Dow’s fresh high is a sign that the U-S is healing after the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.   Our financial analyst MaryAnn Devenney says, “the belief is that the global economy is on a strong enough path to support the market.  And I think right now, investors are kind of ignoring the negative news and focusing on the positive.  We had an upbeat reading from the U.S. Institute of Supply Management which looks at the service sector activity and what’s going on there.  It rose to 56 in February up from 55.2 in January.”

The Dow’s new all-time high and better economic data from the U-S propelled Asian stock markets higher today too.  Japan’s Nikkei index soared 2.1 per cent to close at its highest level since September 2008.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained one per cent.

The Toronto market is still about 17-hundred points shy of its record high.