By Jennifer Coombs, Research Analyst

It took a while, but thanks to a slew of positive economic data and further assurance that interest rates will stay low, the NASDAQ soared to a new all-time intraday high. In fact, all of the major equity indices jumped by well over 1.0% for the day. Just about all of the readings in the May consumer price index (CPI) report pointed to soft pricing pressures with an overall monthly gain at 0.4% and a core reading (excluding food and gasoline) of only 0.1% which is at or near the low-end of forecasts.

On top of the aforementioned report, there was a second wave of economic data that helped the market surge once again. Firstly, initial jobless claims for the week of June 13^th are now back near historic lows as initial claims fell by 12,000 to 267,000 which is close to the low-end of the consensus range at 265,000. This brings the 4-week rolling average down by 2,000 more claims to 276,750. The week of June 13^th is also considered the sample week for the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment report, and when compared to the sample week in May the reading is 8,000 claims lower, but when compared to the 4-week average claims are up by 10,250. Continuing claims, reported with a one-week lag, reversed last week’s gain and dropped by 50,000 to 2.222 million. However, the 4-week average is about 2,000 claims higher at 2.231 million. Nevertheless, both are very favorable readings and since there are no special factors in today’s report, this confirms some positive conditions among those that are unemployed.

Next, we got a taste of the very first sign of manufacturing strength in a long time. The Philadelphia Fed Index surged in the June report beyond expectations to 15.2 for the strongest reading since December 2014. This gain was confirmed by the exact same 15.2-surge for new orders, which is at the highest reading since November 2014. Other readings are also positive, with a jump in unfilled orders, a slowing in delivery times, higher pricing thanks to the surge of oil, and prices received showing just marginal pressure. Employment, however, only showed a marginal gain this month but this may increase since there was a nearly 6-point jump in the 6-month outlook to a very positive 39.7 reading – the best since January 2015. While it’s tempting to really get excited about how great the Philly report looks, it’s too early to tell if this report is just an outlier amid some very weak manufacturing reports. Fed reports from Richmond and Kansas City will be released next week, and it’s known that both of these reports and the Dallas report have been very weak in 2015 so far.

Lastly, there is some remarkable strength being posted in the Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI), which surged by 0.7% in May for the second month in a row. The big surge in building permits is what moved the index higher and ultimately points to an impressive recovery among new home sales. As of yesterday, we know that the Fed’s skepticism on the economy will keep interest rates low, and so this component remains a big positive for the index. Jobless claims and credit conditions also contributed to the monthly gain. There was a very subdued 0.1% gain in the coincident index, which echoes the overall theme for the year: weakness in the first half, followed by an exaggerated bounce back in the second half. Overall, all 10 components of the LEI were positive for the month of May.