Headlines are blurring today’s spike in consumer confidence as a surprise, but I saw this coming and think it’s going to get even stronger.   The headline is consumer sentiment at 93.8 from initial read of 91.6, but I think expectations are even bigger for more hopeful news.

On the home front, new home sales for the month of October fell 1.9% to 563,000 shy of the 590,000 consensus.  September’s reading was revised to 574,000 from 593,000.  Overall sales were up 17.8% year over year.  Supply increased 4% from a revised 5.0 to 5.2 and the median price in October was $304, 500. These readings do not take into consideration the sharp rise in interest rates of late.

The Dow is trading above 19,000 and the Russell 2000 continues its amazing climb for the 14th straight day. There are 548 new highs are being made between the NYSE and NASDAQ on surprisingly good volume for a pre-holiday afternoon.  Industrials and energy are the leading sectors, while real estate lags today. Deere has made a huge move on earnings up nearly 10% and giving a boost to industrials across the board after beating estimates by $0.51 and issuing strong Q1 guidance.