The markets roared today after the Philadelphia Federal Reserve announced better than expected news in its area manufacturing figures.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 108.88 points to finish at 16,331.05. The Nasdaq increased 11.68 points to finish at 4,319.29, while the S&P 500 added 11.24 points to close at 1,872.01.
The Philly Fed index increased to a 9.0 reading for March, a steep jump from the negative 6.3 incurred last month. After February's sharp drop, this month's readings of the Fed's manufacturing index suggest that the weather impact on the U.S. economy is a temporary problem.
The report was especially positive for business spending in the near future. According to the Business Outlook Survey, a near majority (49%) of companies said they would increase capital expenditures in 2014 compared to last year, while just 21% suggested they would cut back.
Here's a recap of other major events today...
- House of Morgan Rules: Shares of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) soared to their highest levels since April 2000, breaching the $60 mark. The news comes one day after the company reached a tentative agreement to sell its low-margin physical commodities business to Mercuria Energy Group Limited for $3.5 billion.
- Dollar at Three-Week High: Gold prices slumped to a three-week low this morning against the greenback after the first Janet Yellen-led Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The dollar rose following Yellen's surprising announcement that interest rates could rise sooner than expected. Meanwhile, the British pound hit a five-week low.
- Russian Risks Rise: Following the annexation of Crimea and the widening of economic sanctions on Russian billionaires and Putin supporters, Standard & Poor's revised its outlook for the Russian Federation from stable to negative. S&P cited rising geopolitical and economic risks as tensions with the West have reached a high since the Cold War. Russia's stock market, the MICEX index, will likely slide tomorrow morning. Year to date, the MICEX is down more than 12%, according to Bloomberg.
- Easier Than the Keystone Pipeline: Reuters reports the U.S. government approved a plan by Energy Transfers Partners LP (NYSE: ETP) to construct a natural gas pipeline traveling from Texas to Mexico. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a presidential permit to allow one of the company's divisions to build the pipeline across the federal border. Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama and multiple agencies are delaying (for five years to be exact) the construction of the Keystone Pipeline, an oil-and-gas pipeline between Canada and the United States...
- Buffett March Madness: After the very first game of the NCAA basketball tournament, 83.7% of players have been eliminated from Warren Buffett's "$1 Billion" challenge to pick a perfect bracket. That's because 6-seed Ohio State lost to 11-seed Dayton, eliminating more than 12.5 million contestants within the Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) tournament contest.
Today's Top Profit Opportunities
- This Land of Black Gold Is Open for Business: While traveling in "forbidden" areas of Mexico, Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors discovered something that few people are talking about. A 76-year-old monopoly on oil is about to end. And that means there are huge profits to be made on plays like this one just south of the border...
- IPOs to Invest in Now: High-tech IPOs are white hot right now, but the temperature rises even higher for investors with an inside view. And that's what Money Morning Defense & Tech Specialist Michael A. Robinson is sharing today, with a way to capture the riches of the boom that's about to hit global investors...
- Do This Before Google Profits Off Your Mistake: There's no sector that's more on fire than robotics. And as Money Morning Executive Editor William Patalon III explains, our tech expert sees this stock zooming up 50% to 100% in 2014...
And Don't Miss: The Best Play Now for a Scary Market
About the Author
Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, consultant, and political risk analyst with decades of trading experience and degrees in economics, cybersecurity, and business from Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Indiana University, and Northwestern.