Well, all it took was huge upgrades, a bellwether stock, good news in the manufacturing sector and a strong initial public offering of a 164-year-old company (LEVI) to erase all the anxiety from the Fed’s dramatic change of heart on interest rates. Of course, all this is happening as pressure mounts for sideline money to make its move, especially professional money managers that continue to underperform the market.

The Apple (AAPL) bandwagon continues to fill up quickly with very strong comments from two big Wall Street firms this morning.

Citigroup

• Loves the $100 billion buyback, higher dividend and free cash flow of $65 billion, plus sees a big short squeeze (short position highest in two years).
• New target $220 from $170

Needham

• Sees the stock as a “strong buy”
• New target $225 from $180 

The strength in large cap momentum names has powered the NASDAQ composite to the highest level since October 4, 2018.

Manufacturing Relief

The March Philly Fed report came in at reading of 13.7, the street was looking for 5.0 after February swooned -4.1.

The report was impressive across the board with nice rebounds in new orders and shipments, although the former growing slower.

There was special question in the report, which I will share in the morning update.

Philly Federal Reserve

IPO Mania

Levi Strauss

The IPO market was awaked today with the debut of Levi Strauss (LEVI).  Initially priced in between $14 to $16, it was oversubscribed several times pushing the IPO price to $17.00.  All that pent-up demand didn’t go away, as the first trade of the session was $22.22.  It’s currently up about 32%.

The IPO mania has begun, and it’s going to be a wild ride as investor digest up to 234 offerings, including some super unicorns like Lyft and Uber.

I wouldn’t chase Levi, but it’s great to see a great American name founded in 1853 make such a remarkable debut.

Rest of the Session

Although this is a good session, I want to see the Dow Jones Industrial average gain traction and catch up with other major indices.  The magic resistance point is 26,191. 

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