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New Record Highs as Capitol Hill Cools Down

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New record closes were set yet again today for the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq — up 0.7%, 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively. As the pricing-in continues for a boosted economy both from near-term stimulus and longer-term vaccine measures to usher us out of the “pandemic era,” markets are back to enjoying the halcyon bull market that had been temporarily interrupted by uncertainty out of Washington DC.

Speaking of DC, prosecutors are moving fast in issuing criminal indictments for those who participated in the insurrection on the nation’s Capitol building yesterday afternoon while Congress was in session. So far, 40 criminal cases have been filed, 15 of them federal cases. Expediency on matters like these look to quell further incidents of violence and destruction on federal soil. Congresspeople on both sides of the aisle have lambasted yesterday’s actions, with many lying blame for the incident at President Trump’s feet, 13 days before he is due to exit the White House for the last time.

Bitcoin is also scaling new all-time highs this afternoon, gaining more than 6% on the day to more than 39,500. This extraordinary growth represents gains of 270% over just the past three months. Mid-day, the cryptocurrency surpassed the 40K benchmark for the first time in its history.

Micron (MU - Free Report) , a leading memory semiconductor company, reported fiscal Q1 earnings results Thursday afternoon, and the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-ranked firm did not disappoint: earnings of 78 cents per share on $5.77 billion in revenues beat the Zacks consensus 71 cents per share on $5.73 billion, respectively. The leader in DRAM and NAND technology is very positive on its strong end-market, issuing fiscal Q2 guidance of 75 cents per share on $5.8 billion in sales, compared to 63 cents on $5.5 billion expected.

Shares were up over 2% early into today’s late-trading session on the news, but have cooled a bit. The company stock has gained 60% over the past six months, and only has one negative earnings surprise going all the way back to 2015. For more on MU’s earnings, click here.

Tomorrow morning brings us the new Employment Situation report for December, including a fresh Unemployment Rate. Gains of 50K new jobs are expected, with unemployment to remain steady at 6.7%. Wednesday’s private-sector payroll numbers from ADP (ADP - Free Report) were a big disappointment at -123K, though this morning’s jobless claims were steady from a week ago.

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