I know Fed policy is designed to help stocks, but the textbook narrative has yet to play out… money hasn’t come pouring out of stocks and Main Street isn’t jumping in the market at breakneck speed- even the smart money has missed a lot of this rally. Still, bears, shorts and booksellers will whine into the New Year about this being the Fed-induced rally, hinting that investors should stay away. They’ve missed 13,000 points and are the greatest example of pride and ego.

The sad part is they’ve costs millions of would-be investors to miss 13,000 points, too.

If you want to assign reasoning for the rally, begin with the fact our foundation didn’t break even though it was under economic and political assault. Yes, we are far from where we could and should be, but this  rally, which began with stocks at absurd lows, is now the American Rally.

See this morning’s report on initial jobless claims at the lowest for current week of the year since 2000.

Last Thursday ’s manufacturing report for the Philadelphia region underscores the amazing good fortune for the nation at the moment. The headline number was a little below consensus, but last months record was unrevised. Moreover, prices paid declined while prices recived increased, hinting at bigger profits margins.

Today’s Session

In the absence of heavy economic data this morning, the major equity indices were poised to open the session well about their previous close, however, the NASDAQ gave up at the open and began trading in the red. Investors can begin the chatter of the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching 18,000 again as the index is back to being on 200 points away. The price of oil is sliding once again, which may not help a rally today, but we shall see how the session plays out.

This morning, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) released its monthly index reading, which is designed to better gauge overall economic activity and inflationary pressure across the US. The big 1.1% jump in the manufacturing component of the industrial production fed a very strong plus +0.73% reading for November's versus a revised +0.31% in October (up from +0.14%). However, other index components were flat with the positive contribution from employment edging slightly lower while the positive contribution from sales, orders, and inventories seemed to disappear. Also, the drag from consumption and housing remained moderate. Most importantly however, were the outsized gains in manufacturing, which boosted the 3-month average to +0.48% in November from October's revised +0.09% which was the component’s strongest reading since May 2010.