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The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 14,000 for the first time since 2007.  And there was no shortage of good economic news to back that up.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 14,009, +149.2, +1.0 percent

S&P 500: 1,513, +15.0, +1.0 percent

NASDAQ: 3,179, +36.9, +1.1 percent
And now the top stories:
  • The January jobs report wasn't the most exciting report we've read.  But it certainly wasn't bad either.  The economy added just 157k payrolls in January, which was less than expected.  And the unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped.  However, the December NFP number was revised up by 41k and the November NFP number was revised up by 86k.  If anything, the report was bullish. 

  • Consumer confidence unexpectedly jumped to 73.8, beating expectations for 71.5. Gains were driven by the economic outlook sub-component of the index, which rose to 66.6 from 63.8 last month.

  • Construction spending jumped by 0.9 percent in December, beating expectations for 0.7 percent growth.

  • The ISM Manufacturing report smashed expectations jumping to 53.1 in January.  All five of the ISM subcomponents reflected growth.  This came in the wake of a bullish U.S. PMI report.

  • Overnight, most major economies announced manufacturing PMI reports that were bullish.  China confirmed that its economy was accelerating.  Europe continues to be a mess, but most of the manufacturing metrics appear to be improving.

  • Markets continued to inch toward their all-time highs. The Dow closed at an all-time high of 14,164 on October 9, 2007.  It hit an intra-day high of 14,198 on October 11, 2007.  The S&P 500 isn't too far from its all-time high of 1,565, which it also high on October 9, 2007.