Record Braking Trading Tuesday

The Dow Jones Industrial Average breaks into record high territory and the S&P 500 Index is flirting with its own break through this morning. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrials (NYSE: DIA) is up 1.1% and the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) is higher by 1.0%.

Just one major economic report on the slate Tuesday, but it’s an important one. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) is set to report on its Nonmanufacturing Index at 10:00 AM ET. Not much change expected for the February reading, with the consensus of economists forecasting a modest slip to 55.0, from 55.2 in January.

Last week’s ICSC same-store sales comparison was influenced by holiday, so the week-to-week change of just +0.1% is not as important as the year-to-year change of +2.9% for the period ending February 23. As we move past the holidays, we’ll get a clearer look at real activity. Keep an eye on the year-to-year changes as well the week to week movement, and lean on moving averages to weed out noise caused by weather and holidays.

The same government that could not get to a more amicable solution than the sequester cuts last week, will be considering other changes this Tuesday. The House Financial Services Committee will examine whether the Fed’s low rate policy is working or not. The Senate Budget Committee will consider the tax code and whether it can be more efficient.

Overseas, China’s new government is expected to act on housing speculation.

The corporate wire has Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN), Tractor Supply (Nasdaq: TSCO), Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) and Xilinx (Nasdaq: XLNX) meeting with shareholders and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) discussing “big data”. The CeBit computer fair starts in Germany, and highlights a presentation by SAP (NYSE: SAP). The FDA will consider a Novartis (NYSE: NVS) osteoporosis drug. The Raymond James (NYSE: RJF) Institutional Investors Conference highlights presentations by Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG). J.P. Morgan’s (NYSE: JPM) Aviation Transportation and Defense Conference highlights a presentation by C.H. Robinson Worldwide (Nasdaq: CHRW). The day’s earnings schedule highlights news from 21Vianet Group (Nasdaq: VNET), AeroVironment (Nasdaq: AVAV), Alpha Pro Tech (NYSE: APT), American Electric Technologies (Nasdaq: AETI), Calavo Growers (Nasdaq: CVGW), Checkpoint Systems (NYSE: CKP), Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEP), Ferro (NYSE: FOE), Gevo (Nasdaq: GEVO), H&E Equipment (Nasdaq: HEES), Hickory Tech (Nasdaq: HTCO), Homeowners Choice (NYSE: HCI), IGI Laboratories (NYSE: IG), Infinity Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: INFI), Jamba (Nasdaq: JMBA), Medallion Financial (Nasdaq: TAXI), MELA Sciences (Nasdaq: MELA), Memorial Production Partners (Nasdaq: MEMP), MGC Diagnostics (Nasdaq:MGCD), Michael Baker (NYSE: BKR), Mid-Con Energy Partners (Nasdaq: MCEP), Midstates Petroleum (NYSE: MPO), NCI Building Systems (NYSE: NCS), Nutrisystem (Nasdaq: NTRI), Omega Protein (NYSE: OME), Qihoo 360 (Nasdaq: QIHU), Radisys (Nasdaq: RSYS), RELM Wireless (NYSE: RWC), Rigel Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: RIGL), Sapiens Int’l (Nasdaq: SPNS), Seaspan (NYSE: SSW), Smith & Wesson (Nasdaq: SWHC), Stereotaxis (Nasdaq: STXS), Systemax (NYSE: SYX), Trinity Biotech (Nasdaq: TRIB), VeriFone (NYSE: PAY) and ZipRealty (Nasdaq: ZIPR).

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