Markets posted their strongest trading session in nearly two weeks today, where all major indices posted notably strong gains across the board: the Dow grew +212 points, +0.65% — and it was by far the laggard. The S&P 500 earned +49 points, +1.15% on the day, while the Nasdaq outperformed the field: +220 points, +1.65%, while the small-cap Russell 2000, which looked like it would be the big winner on the day, petered out toward the end of the session, closing +1.46%.

Like we saw with positive surprises in Durable Goods Orders and Case-Shiller Home Prices this morning, we also saw a big jump in New Home Sales for May: 763K, versus 675K expected and a revised 680K for the previous month. Consumer Confidence for June saw a similar boost for the month: 109.7 easily surpassed the 104 expected and the 102.5 upwardly revised total for the previous week.

We now see housing starts at their highest points in seven years, after a third-straight monthly hike in Case-Shiller figures. The low inventory, keeping those homeowners paying 3-4% in mortgage rates out of a 7%+ mortgage market currently, has helped things like New Home Sales numbers; supplying the new housing demand looks to be a green chute here in this late-cycle inflation/high-interest-rate environment.

Tomorrow will bring us Advance Trade in Goods for May. Last month, we saw these overall trade numbers down -$88.3 billion. We’ll also get Advance Retail and Wholesale Inventories, both for May, which is expected to fetch +0.2% on the former and -0.1% on the latter. Any big swings away from expectations might turn a newly robust market into something worthy of more caution. Then again, the big economic report of the weeks doesn’t happen until Friday: Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE).

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