By Rick Glaze

By now everybody knows that the population of the United States hit 300 million last Tuesday, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. How do we know the milestone was reached on Tuesday? Don’t ask - after all, it’s the government.

In 1967 the bureau counted a total of 200 million Americans. Let’s do the mat The United States gained 100 million people in 40 years. The Pew Hispanic Trust reported that 55 million of those are immigrants. That influx is necessary for a thriving retail industry, which is getting a boost this year from expanding sales.

Sales for the past 12 months, excluding gasoline, are up by 6.4 percent as consumers are buying everything from iPods to tripods. Prices on the wholesale level remained in check as the producer price index rose just 0.9 percent, a four-year low. Falling energy prices and a rising stock market have softened the blow of the slowing housing market. Some had worried that a slump in housing would catapult the economy into a recession, but indications of economic strength elsewhere appear to have countered that fear.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has reached an all-time high, and as of this writing, has hit the magic 12,000 mark in interday trading. The Dow comprises 30 of the largest domestic companies, most of which are household names. These new highs represent peaks above the highs set around January 2000.

The surprise is how few stocks in the index have actually achieved a new high above that previously recorded. By my back-of-the-napkin calculations, only 10 Dow stocks are higher now than they were in January 2000. The stock leaders have been in energy and basic industries such as chemicals and commodities.

Many analysts argue that it is not as important that new highs are reached, but that the direction is up and steady. There is still a lot of skepticism in the markets, however, and when that dries up and everyone is an exuberant bull, the stock market will be ready for a pause. You’ll know it when it’s time. The San Jose Mercury News will hail it as a never-ending bull market and publish stories of regular Joes mortgaging their homes to buy stocks. That will be the flashing red light.

Rick Glaze is president of Glaze Capital Management Inc. of Los Altos. He is also a general securities principal offering securities through

First Allied Securities Inc. E-mail him at rick@glazecapital.com.