Isn't this the way it always happens?  The market is thrashed about like a rag doll and a few weeks later it's trading at an all-time high.  Well, that's been the characteristic of the current rally. Sometimes, you have to look around and a couple years later the market is back to an all-time high, but historically, it happens every time.   The S&P 500 is right back within distance of establishing a new high as consumer and industrial names continue to benefit from the shift into value even as buyers for high flying names have also reemerged.

It's tough to see how consumer stocks can continue this amazing run, but with the entire planet as a backdrop, I think it's real and will continue.

Old school investors have always said the best way to assess a rally is to see if transportation names are keeping pace.  In other words, they must confirm the validity of a broader rally.  That's happening today where the Dow Jones Transportation Index has established a new all-time high.

March Existing Home Sales were also released this morning. The number of existing home sales fell 0.2% in March to 4.59 million SAAR from an unrevised 4.60 million SAAR in February, and just shy of consensus' expectation that home sales would remain at 4.60 million SAAR. Inventories increased by 4.7 percent to 1.99 million from 1.90 million in February - this represents a 5.2 months' supply at the March sales rate, which up from a 5.0 months' supply in February. We note that the spread between home sales and inventory is widening which implies that the consumer may be favoring new builds going forward. All in all, the market's performance this afternoon is highly encouraging.