Cautioning against Dow 13,000 exuberance

The Dow Jones industrial average finally closed above 13,000 Tuesday — for the first time in nearly four years — after bouncing around the milestone for weeks.

But then the index quickly dropped below 13,000 and didn’t close above it the rest of the week. What should a stock picker make of this?

John Fish writes in:

“While the Dow surpassing 13,000 was a significant psychological milestone, it is not necessarily a true harbinger of things to come.

“The prickly nature of our political climate, coupled with the unpredictability of the global economy suggests that market volatility will persist, and will result in slower growth in 2012.”