[expat_panama]

Top of the money-making morning to all!  Stocks continued a second straight jump (up 2%) and metals remain perched at their new higher levels (silver $15.31 --a four-month high and gold $1,204.83 --a seven-month high). 

fwiw, futures markets are mixed/off for stock indexes and +0.2% up for metals.

YUGE  document dump today:

8:30 AM PPI
8:30 AM Core PPI
8:30 AM Housing Starts
8:30 AM Building Permits
9:15 AM Industrial Production
9:15 AM Capacity Utilization
10:30 AM Crude Inventories
2:00 PM FOMC Minutes

Misc.:

Wall Street set to build on gains as oil, Fed stay in focus
Cruz's tax plans seen aiding wealthy, costing $8.6 trillion
Why Donald Trump is a lousy executive
Oil loses nearly 4 percent as hopes over Saudi, Russia deal fade
Is This a Financial Panic, Or a Slow Burn?
Oil, European stocks gain as volatility eases
Iran signals tough stance in oil producers' talks
With recession lights amber, brittle markets vulnerable to all shocks

[Gadsden1st]

Please add me to your ping list.

[abb]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-the-curiously-strong-dow-transports-say-about-stocks-2016-02-17?dist=beforebell

Opinion: What the curiously strong Dow Transports say about stocks

By Mark Hulbert
Published: Feb 17, 2016 5:24 a.m. ET

The Transports and the broader Dow Industrials are diverging, which is a bullish sign

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — One of the most bullish sub-surface developments in the stock market is the surprising strength of the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

Whereas the broader Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.39% has fallen 1.6% in February, the Dow Transports DJT, +2.28% are sitting on a 4.4% gain. (See the chart at the top of this column.) It’s unusual for a divergence this large — 6 percentage points — to materialize over so short a period.

One reason this divergence is bullish: The Transports tend to be a decent leading indicator. A recent case in point came in mid-December: That’s when I wrote that the Transports were “unusually weak.” As we know now, the broad market at that time was about to suffer a 10%-plus correction.

This is just one data point, of course, but there is more systematic evidence that supports the notion that the transportation sector is a good leading indicator. Consider a study conducted by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics in the U.S. Department of Transportation, titled “The Freight Transportation Services Index as a Leading Economic Indicator.” The study’s authors concluded that this index over the past three decades “led slowdowns in the economy by an average of four to five months.”

snip