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Markets rallied after a slew of data sent mixed signals about the economy.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 13,485, +72.4, +0.5%

S&P 500: 1,447, +13.8, +0.9%

NASDAQ: 3,136, +42.9, +1.3%
And now the top stories:
  • Durable goods orders unexpectedly plunged by 13.0 percent in August.  This was much worse than the 5.0 percent decline expected by economists.  Excluding transportation, the orders fell 1.7 percent, which was worse than the 0.2 percent gain expected. This report is known to be volatile, but today's number seemed a bit extreme. "It looks nearly certain at this point that manufacturing is in a recession," said New Deal democrat of The Bonddad Blog.

  • Q2 GDP growth was unexpectedly slashed to 1.3 percent from a previous reading of 1.7 percent. "The "third" estimate of the second-quarter percent change in real GDP is 0.4 percentage point, or $16.0 billion, less than the "second" estimate issued last month, primarily reflecting downward revisions to private inventory investment, to personal consumption expenditures, and to exports," wrote the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  Personal consumption growth was revised down to 1.5 percent from 1.7 percent.

  • "As we recently noted, you'll need to watch the rear-view mirror to see the recession come into focus," wrote ECRI's Lakshman Achuthan in an email to Business Insider.  Achuthan has been calling for a U.S. recession for around a year.

  • The jobs data today was good.  Initial jobless claims fell to 359K from 385K last week.  Economists were expecting 375K.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics also released its annual benchmark revision which boosted payrolls by 386K. 

  • BlackBerry maker Research In Motion announces earnings after the closing bell. We'll be covering it