Stocks Soar Again!

A late push in stock markets enabled the S&P 500 to reach a fresh year-to-date high, eclipsing the February high into the close. This comes as no surprise after the Nasdaq 100 had broken-out earlier in the week and continued today reaching another 52-week high. Optimism was felt in interest rate markets as well as debt ceiling talks point to a possible near-term resolution. As a result, US 10-year futures are pressuring key levels of support in the form of key moving averages and the April low. In currency markets, the US dollar soared against the majors, which enabled the dollar/yen rate to a fresh year-to-date high. Dollar strength shook gold bulls, triggering gold commodity futures to fresh 6-week lows amid renewed risk appetite seen in the US banking shares and hopes of an agreement regarding Washington's debt ceiling talks.