Dow, S&P Reach New All-Time Highs; Nasdaq Within 3%

At the closing bell for the first trading day of a new week, both the Dow and S&P 500 have set new all-time highs: +1.12% (374 points) and +1.44% (58 points), respectively. The Nasdaq finished up at its highest level in eight weeks, +1.67%, on strength in the Tech sector and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) TSLA. The index is now within 3% of its own all-time high. The small-cap Russell 2000 gained 0.49% on the day.

New Services economic prints came out this morning after the regular trading session opened, with March PMI Services revised up to 60.4 today from 60.0 in its preliminary read, as well as 20 basis points higher than consensus. This marks the fastest output of growth since July 14th of last year, while new businesses expanded the most in six years. This also measured the highest input cost inflation ever recorded (the survey began in October 2009). It’s all-time high was 61.0 in mid-2014.

ISM Services for March came in even stronger: 63.7% on the headline was the highest month-over-month jump on record (this survey began in the mid-1990s), from 55.3% reported for February. The segment growth by category read like catapults: Business Activity 69.4% vs. 55.5% a month ago; New Orders 67.2% vs. 51.9%; Employment 57.2% vs. 52.7; and Pricing 74.0% vs. 71.8%. The two segments that came in lower were Inventories: 54.0% vs. 58.9% and New Exports: 55.5% vs. 57.6%.

Bitcoin gained a modest 2% on the day, while the yield on the 10-year bond remained flat at 1.71%. After a couple weeks of accelerating rates on the 10-year, which temporarily shook investors out of their bullish stance, this has now plateaued at a level still 30 basis points below what the Fed targets as optimum inflation. In other words, economic data is firing on all cylinders at the moment — what’s not to like?

For the remainder of the week, we’ll see new reads on Job Openings, the Trade Deficit, minutes from the last FOMC meeting and Consumer Credit — all for February. There will also be a fresh Producer Price Index (PPI) for March at the end of the week, and of course Thursday’s Jobless Claims. Aside from costs of material goods going and staying higher, pushing price points higher and limiting overall growth, there appears to be very little to take issue with at present.

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Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change Everything

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