Trader Wall Street Computer Screen Bloomberg Terminal Staring Intently Focus
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Investors and traders are keeping this epic bull market alive.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 13,593, +53.5, +0.4%

S&P 500: 1,465, +5.7, +0.4%

NASDAQ: 3,183, +28.1, +0.8%

And now the top stories:
  • Today's rally was modest.  But it was good enough to establish a fresh 5-year high.  It's worth noting that Middle East tensions sent oil prices north of $100 per barrel for the first time since May.

  • A couple of economic reports this morning remind everyone that the U.S. economy remains weak.  August retail sales excluding oil and gas climbed just 0.1 percent, which was lower than the expectation for 0.4 percent.  The headline number increased by 0.9 percent versus expectations for a 0.9 percent gain.

  • Industrial production was also ugly.  In August, production fell 1.2 percent, reversing the 0.5 percent gain seen in July.  Much of this was due to Hurricane Isaac.  "Precautionary shutdowns of oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico in advance of the hurricane contributed to a drop of 1.8 percent in the output of mines for August," the Fed said in its statement. "The output of utilities declined 3.6 percent."

  • Consumer sentiment, however, jumped to 79.2 from 74.3 in August.  This was the second highest reading since October 2007.

  • Bank of America's Savita Subramanian thinks that this bull market still has legs.  In a note to clients today, she unveiled her 2013 S&P 500 target: 1,600.  That's a 10 percent gain from here. "This would represent a new all-time high for the S&P 500, surpassing the 1565 level reached in October 2007," she wrote.