August 1st, 2013

Lots of positive news on Wall Street today boosted the Dow and S&P to record highs, while the Nasdaq hit a 13 year high.  Jobless claims were less than expected, and the ISM index for factory activity rose to its highest level since June of 2011, which bodes well for American manufacturing production.

In other news, the SEC won a lawsuit against Fabrice Tourre, an ex-Goldman Sachs VP responsible for the creation of "Abacus" - a multi-billion dollar mortgage backed security that was designed to fail from the beginning, but was marketed to potential clients as a "sure thing" and is considered one of the catalysts that lead to the economic collapse in 2008.  Mr. Tourre was found guilty of securities fraud in excess of $1 Billion.  Goldman Sachs already plea-bargained to the tune of $400 million previously, and the company was not involved directly in today's ruling.  However, there is now speculation that individual investors may use this as a basis for future civil suits against Goldman Sachs.  Only time will tell.

Finally, automotive sales have increased yet again.  Pickup sales are leading the pack as commercial customer seek to replace trucks in their aging fleets.  Commercial customers need replacement trucks because, as the economy picks up and work is required, so to will trucks be needed to do the job.

And I end with a 5 minute snap shot of the DOW

Note the HUGE gain at the beginning of the trading day, followed by the narrow range that the index traded in for the rest of the day.