The markets have done a complete about face despite the launch of missiles by Iran on two U.S. military bases in Iraq.  If there were any investor jitters, President Trump quelled them during his conference, stating Iran “appears to be standing down.” He did vow that while he is president, “Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.” 

His words were music to the market’s ears, which took off and all the major indices are rocketing higher. The Nasdaq once again is the leader up 69 points to 9137.  The Dow is up over 200 points to 29793, while the S&P up 22 points to 3259. The only sector in the red is Energy, which is giving up almost 1.5% after rising on worries in the middle east. 

Financials are the winners today, followed closely by Communications Services and Technology.

• Gasoline +9.1 million, the largest one week gain since in 4 years
• Distillates +5.3 million

Lost in all the news this morning was an outstanding jobs report from ADP.  The December tally of 202,000 (best number since April) came in well-above the 160,000-consensus estimate.  One big bright spot was small business (1 to 49 employees), which enjoyed its best month of the year since January. November was also revised higher by 67,000 to 124,000.