INSTANT VIEW: Dow hits 10,000 for first time in a year

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow Jones industrial average crossed the psychologically important 10,000 number for the first time since one year ago as investors reacted to strong reports from JPMorgan Chase & Co and Intel Corp.

The 10,000 figure is seen by some as a sign that the market's recovery may endure. The Dow is now nearly 55 percent higher than the 12-year-low of 6469.95 hit on March 6, but remains more than 12 percent from its pre-Lehman Brothers bankruptcy close on September 12, 2008.

The Dow first hit 10,000 on March 29, 1999, ten-and-a-half years ago.

COMMENTS:

GARY THAYER, MACROSTRATEGIST, WELLS FARGO ADVISORS, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: "It's a psychological milestone. Sometimes key points like that attract investors attention and hitting it is probably mot as important as surpassing it and staying above there. If we hit it and pull back it could disappoint some traders. So we're at an important psychological point. It could either confirm or disappoint some of the bullish sentiment right now.

JOHN KOSAR, PRESIDENT ASBURY RESEARCH, CHICAGO:

"It's a distraction for the retail guy, for the unsophisticated. It's certainly not a distraction for the professional. The professional sees people wearing hats for a narrow index of 30 stocks."

CARL BIRKELBACH, HEAD OF BIRKELBACH MANAGEMENT, CHICAGO:

"I'm surprised to some extent that the market has acted as well as it has since it formed its low. I expected an increase and a 50 percent increase was nice but to break above 10,000 was above my expectation

"The market is its own indicator. The market indicates that, like now, as long as you have higher highs and higher lows the market is going to go higher. I just think that at this point one must be very cautionary, particularly in the U.S. markets.

"It is also has a formation, if one wants to look at it from a charting standpoint, of a head and shoulder bottoming formation and the potential for that is about 11,500.

"The market hasn't held above 10,000 yet so its a little premature to look at that ... if the market can hold above 10,000 it has that kind of projection on the upside.

You can't say you've got a buy signal when the market is up 50 percent. This would be a confirmation of the continuing bull market."

MICHAEL WOOLFOLK, SENIOR CURRENCY STRATEGIST, BNY MELLON, NEW YORK

"It's a huge buy signal. We still have 95 percent of earnings reports to come, and the leading edge looks very very good. This is starting to stack up like the July earnings season did, with negative expectations in the beginning being confounded by better-than-expected results, leading to a sustained equity market rally. We could see that into the end of the year, with another 10 percent likely. There's a great deal of pessimism about the holiday shopping season, but today's retail sales report argues against that. If you strip out the anticipated downturn in auto sales, you are left with tremendous improvement across the board."

CALVIN SULLIVAN, BOND ANALYST, MORGAN KEEGAN, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE:

"I think there is a lot of optimism built into almost every sector across fixed income, equities and other asset classes. I would be very surprised if that optimistic case comes to fruition."

"No question, conditions are improving. I just don't think that the level of improvement is as significant as what's being priced into the markets right now."

"There are going to be some fundamental, long-lasting, far-reaching changes that have come about from the events over the past 18 months -- whether it's liquidity, the general level of economic growth or what the new natural rate of employment will be. I don't think stock prices or many bond prices, particularly corporate bonds, are reflecting the new reality."

JOSH STILES, BOND STRATEGIST, IDEAGLOBAL, NEW YORK:

"The stock market is probably going to run into some trouble soon -- everybody keeps saying that, day in and day out you hear that but it has not been happening. I can't get too bearish on Treasuries just because stocks could have a big pullback at some point soon."

CHRIS BURBA, MARKET TECHNICIAN, STANDARD & POOR'S, NEW YORK:

"That acts as a psychological anchor that can influence buying and selling decisions; however, it means nothing with regard to the supply/demand balance.

"Right now, at least technically, it's clear demand is overpowering supply. The dip in late September attracted aggressive buying interest. We're at a new high for this up trend. That affirms what I would call a cyclical bull market that began in March.

"The next area of technical resistance is about 10,700, and I would not be surprised if the index went up to that level without too much trouble in the weeks ahead."

STEPHEN MASSOCCA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WEDBUSH MORGAN, SAN FRANCISCO: