Wall Street’s seeing steady improvements that’s returned the Dow to its’ highest level since the summer of 2008.

And that’s *before* the 5000 point plunge that started back in August of 2008.

With the Dow approaching the 12-Thousand mark and the other major Investment Indexs seeing continued gains, Wall Streets’ bascially back to where it was before the great recession’s major crash dropped it down some 5000 points. That’s when our investment were basically cut almost in half!

Financial Planner Matt McGrath of Coral Gables Evensky & Katz says ” The Dow until last week was on a 7 week run. I t showed solid gains based on consumer spending and increased corporate earnings..That’as what fueld a pretty good run”

So what’s steering Wall Street today?

Consumer spending has slowed some since the holiday season. Consumers are now worrying about paying their bills and getting ready for their taxes.

But some national business groups now forecast hiring nationwide to improve as most corporate earnings also see new gains.

Consumer’s are becoming increasingly confident about the future. But the housing market continues to bottom out.

So what does it all mean to *our* bottom line…our jobs and our families?

McGrath adds, “As the markets move, out portfolios should improve. That’ll also heklp corporate earnings and as companuies feel better about the future, they’ll start hiring again. It won;t happen overnight, but it will be triggered as companys start to improve their earnings”.

Many market analysts expect short-term ups and downs on wall street over the coming months, with overal continued growth.

But on the downside, rising food and energy costs are likely to continue to take a bigger bite out of our family budgets.

So it may not feel much better when it comes time to pay our bills.