S&P 500 hits a record

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 index closed at an all-time-high of 1,530.23, according to Reuters.

This is the first time it's hit a new high in seven years and it helps overcome investors' resistance to investing because the S&P 500 includes more of the technology stocks which boosted all the indices during the 1990s. Wednesday's record is all the more impressive given the scary start to Wednesday's market after the Shanghai Index fell 6.5%.

But the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest meeting gave investors comfort. The minutes revealed that the Fed is confident of the economy's strength. Specifically, it saw that the risks to growth had diminished "slightly." boosting optimism about the outlook for corporate profits.

The Fed also suggested that inflation remained a concern -- thus increasing the chances of a rate increase. But investors seemed to have considered the good news on growth to be more important than a potential rate increase.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns shares in an S&P 500 index fund.