STOCKS EXPLODE TO RECORD, BITCOIN CRASHES: Here's What You Need To Know

First the scoreboard:

Dow: 14,802, +128.7 pts, +0.8 percent
S&P 500: 1,587, +19.1 pts, +1.2 percent
NASDAQ: 3,297, +59.3 pts, +1.8 percent

And now the top stories:

• The day started with a surprise. The minutes of the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting leaked early after an email snafu. The main headline from the minutes: several members saw a halt to quantitative easing by year-end.
• From Deutsche Bank's Joe LaVorgna: "The key passage in our view from the minutes was the following: “Many participants, including some of those who were focused on the increasing risks, expressed the view that continued solid improvement in the outlook for the labor market could prompt the FOMC to slow the pace of purchases beginning at some point over the next several meetings, while a few participants suggested that economic conditions would likely justify continuing the program at its current pace at least until late in the year.”"
• The S&P 500 ripped to an all-time intraday high, touching 1,589.
• The bulls are probably feeling good about the early information coming out of earnings season. Specifically, record high corporate profit margins are holding up. In fact, it's what's driving the early earnings surprises. "Of the 22 S&P 500 companies that have already reported, 73% beat their earnings expectations by an average of 1.7%," wrote UBS's Jonathan Golub in a note to clients. "Upside is entirely due to margins not revenues. We expect these trends to continue."
• Gold got slammed today. Earlier today, Goldman Sachs recommended that its clients short gold, saying that it could tumble to $1,450/oz by the end of the year. From their research note: "In fact, should our expectation for lower gold prices continue to prove correct, the fall in prices could end up being faster and larger than our forecast, as aggregate speculative net long positions across COMEX futures and gold ETFs remain near record highs."
• Meanwhile, controversial digital currency Bitcoin crumbled today. It crashed to around $150 from its recent high of $266.
• Don't Miss: The American Manufacturing Renaissance Is A Flop >