DOW RALLIES TO NEW POST-CRISIS HIGH: Here's What You Need To Know

First the scoreboard:

Dow: 14,018, +47.4, +0.3 percent
S&P 500: 1,519, +2.4, +0.1 percent
NASDAQ: 3,186, -5.5, -0.1 percent

And now the top stories:

• It was another very quiet day for market moving economic data and earnings announcements. But stocks staged a nice little rally.
• To recap, the Dow closed at its all-time high of 14,164 on October 9, 2007. The S&P 500 hit its all-time high of 1,565 on that same day.
• In encouraging news out of Washington, the U.S. posted its first January budget surplus in five years. According to the latest Monthly Treasury Statement, the surplus came in at $2.88 billion in January. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting a deficit of $2.0 billion. Some of this is likely due to the expiration of the payroll tax cut. Nevertheless, it was still a surprise.
• In other market news, the yen surged today. Earlier today, the G7 made what appeared to be a benign comment about how exchange-rates should be determined by markets. But the FX markets moved when the G7 came back with a statement saying that their earlier statement was misinterpreted. In fact, the G7 said that it is concerned about excessive yen moves.
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