With the Dow industrials at a record high, many financial advisers are telling clients to go easy, whether they’re just getting back into stocks or seeking to add to equity positions.
Questions over how much higher the market can go have kept caution in play, with some technical indicators suggesting the market is overbought. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 14,397.07 points on Friday, up 307.41 for the week.
But the case for investing in stocks is strong, they said, particularly given signs of more strength in the economy, especially Friday’s jobs report, which showed a much higher-than-expected 236,000 workers added to the payrolls in February.
“We’re telling clients to take a more defensive approach to the market right now,” said Frank Fantozzi, chief executive of Planned Financial Services, an independent wealth manager in Cleveland.
Yet stocks remain a better choice than other asset classes, he said.
“If I had to pick a category, I’d still be looking at equities,” Fantozzi said. The Dow is now up 9.9 percent since Dec. 31.