So will the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) hit 7,500 again this year in 2023? Good question!
Of course, the ASX 200 has been at 7,500 points before. A few times, actually. The first time the ASX 200 ever crossed the 7,500-point threshold was back in August 2021. A few days later, we saw the index touch its current all-time high above 7,600 points. But it wasn't to last.
The next time the ASX 200 had another incursion above 7,500 points, it was back in April of 2022. The time after that was recent, in February of this year:
On all of these occasions, the ASX 200's journey above 7,500 points didn't last too long. But perhaps next time will be different.
So will 2023 give the ASX 200 another shot at this milestone?
Will the ASX 200 see 7,500 points again in 2023?
Well, I'll keep this quick. I have no idea. And nor does anyone else. Predicting what the share market will do next is a fool's game (and not the good kind of Fool).
Perhaps additional interest rate rises, more bank failures, some global catastrophe, or sheer investor apathy will drag the ASX 200 under 7,000 points over the rest of the year.
Perhaps investors keep ASX shares where they are for the rest of 2023.
Or perhaps interest rate cuts, good economic news, or unbridled investor optimism will drag the ASX 200 back over 7,500, or even over 8,000 points by the end of the year.
As it stands today, all of these scenarios are possible. And since we don't know what the rest of 2023 has in store for us, there is no way of knowing what might happen. As such, I believe it is folly to try and make decisions or predictions based on events that are impossible to predict.
But here's what we do know. ASX shares go up far more often than they go down. And the ASX 200 Index has never once failed to regain and surpass a previous all-time high.
These are things we know to be true and, thus, we should base our investing habits on them. So I'm going to keep investing in ASX shares throughout the remainder of 2023, regardless of what the markets do.
Mathematics is on the side of the investor who knows the history of the share market. If shares go up more than they go down, it makes sense to buy as much of them as possible as soon as you can.
