STOCKS RALLY, DOW ADDS 125 POINTS: Here's What You Need To Know

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

2014 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models (from L to R) Emily DiDonato, Natasha Barnard and Gigi Hadid tour the floor of the New York Stock Exchange February 13, 2014.

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 16,161.2 (+133.6, +0.8%)
• S&P 500: 1,838.0 (+8.2, +0.4%)
• Nasdaq: 4,243.1 (+2.4, +0.0%)

And now the top stories:

• Despite what many would consider bad news, the stock market has resumed its march toward record highs. After pulling back by 6% in recent weeks, the S&P 500 is now just 1% away from setting a new all-time high.
• Earlier today, we learned industrial production unexpectedly fell 0.3% in January, which was much worse than the 0.2% gain expected. Manufacturing production saw its worst drop since 2009. "Manufacturing output fell 0.8% and drilling and mining 0.9%, but the Fed said the weakness was "partly because of the severe weather that curtailed production in some regions of the country," leading to weather-related plant closures and disruptions at oil and gas drilling facilities," noted Morgan Stanley's Ted Wieseman. Demand for heating caused utility output to jump by 4.1%.
• The University of Michigan's monthly consumer confidence index registered at 81.2 in February, which was better than the 80.2 reading expected by economists. The economic conditions sub-index fell to 94.0 from 96.8, while the economic outlook sub-index advanced to 73.0 from 71.2. "Consumer inflation expectations for the year ahead also rose, which may suggest a greater focus on utility bills by consumers?" said UBS's Drew Matus in a note title "Valentine's Day Data Massacre?"
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