STOCKS RALLY: Here's What You Need To Know

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 15,502.1, +88.3, +0.5%
• S&P 500: 1,751.3, +5.2, +0.2%
• NASDAQ: 3,927.8, +20.5, +0.5%

And now the top stories:

• Stocks closed just a handful of points from all-time highs.
• Earlier today, we learned that initial weekly jobless claims fell to 350,000 from 362,000 a week ago. This reading was a bit higher than the 340,000 economists were looking for. However, this data point continues to be affected by non-economic glitches. "Applications in California remained elevated and analysts weren't able to determine how many non-federal workers filed due to the government shutdown, a Labor Department spokesman said as the figures were released to the press," reported Bloomberg's Michelle Jamrisko. "Firings may gradually diminish as a backlog of claims processing in California and the end to the closure of government offices push and pull on the figures."
• The Flash US PMI number missed expectations, falling to 51.1 in October from 52.8 in September. Economists were looking for a 52.5 print. The output index plunged to 49.5 from 55.3, reflecting contraction.
• Economists and traders are increasingly talking about how the Federal Reserve may have missed its chance to taper its large-scale asset purchase program (aka QE). In the report - titled "Fed: Ctrl-Alt-Delete" - Medley Global Advisors analysts Regina Schleiger and Jeremy Torobin write that, "more than simply standing pat, the Federal Open Market Committee has effectively hit the reset button and is back where it was six months ago - at the very start of a long process of building the case for a downward adjustment to the Large-Scale Asset Purchase program."
• Don't Miss: Bond Traders Are Passing Around This Report That Says The Fed Has Hit 'Ctrl-Alt-Delete' On Tapering »