Shaun White skateboarding 2011
AP
Markets are quietly climbing to new highs, as Europe clears a big hurdle.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 13,333, +9.9, +0.0%

S&P 500: 1,436, +3.0, +0.2%

NASDAQ: 3,114, +9.7, +0.3%

And now the top stories:
  • Europe cleared a major hurdle today when the German constitutional court – AKA the Bundesverfassungsgericht – ruled that Europe's permanent bailout fund (ESM) was legal.  The only condition is that if Germany were to contribute more than 190 billion EUR to the fund, then it would have to be approved by parliament. 

  • New data from the Census Bureau revealed that nearly one out of six Americans are below the poverty line.  To qualify for poverty, a family of four must earn less than $22,811 per year.  This represents 46.2 million Americans.  

  • In other highly anticipated news, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5.  It's thinner and lighter than the previous version.  The screen is taller and the case is redesigned.  Overall, people seemed to be impressed.  But many were also disappointed that there wasn't some unexpected, gamechanging, big leap of a feature on the phone. 

  • In a webcast last night, fund manager Jeff Gundlach warned that high-flying stocks like Apple could be at risk if the government were to raise the capital gains tax rate.  The basic idea is that once the tax is raised, investors with huge unrealized profits would scramble to dump their holdings in their efforts to minimize their tax costs.  And Gundlach expects taxes to soon rise as part of the government's efforts to reduce debts and deficits. 

  • All eyes will be on the Federal Reserve tomorrow as it concludes its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and reveals whether it will embark on more easy monetary policy in its efforts to stimulate the economy.  Two-thirds of economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the Fed to announce a new round of bond purchases.