Riverplace Capital Management believes the reason is that the markets are starting to sense that our economy is beginning to accelerate to a higher rate of growth.  Last week we saw indicators that pointed to a pick-up in both the manufacturing and service sectors.  Reported auto sales for August were terrific and look to remain strong.  Housing is continuing to show improvement.  All these lead investors to believe that better growth is in the offing.

Good economic fundamentals trump near term concerns although if serious enough these can delay or even waylay underlying trends.  At this point that does not seem to be happening.  Even higher interest rates are not a serious threat so long as they are a response to better economic activity.  So far this seems to be the case as well.

We sense that markets want to continue to recover this week. As long as the backdrop remains somewhat benign, that should happen.