February 28th, 2012 Market Recap, Silver, Gas & More New Highs

Today's to the point market recap comes from Reuters, "Stocks logged a gain Tuesday despite mixed economic reports, with the Dow finishing above 13,000 for the first time since May 2008 and the S&P closing at its best level in almost four years."

Good reads:

Apple's Market Cap Now the Same Size as Entire Retail Sector (ZeroHedge)
A Primer on the Euro Breakup (Variant Perception)
iPad 3 Set to be Revealed on March 7th (TechCrunch)
Average February Gas Prices at All Time Highs (ZeroHedge)

The up up and away train continues for the market, and many investors continue to wonder how this is all possible given the current economic conditions. Well, Tyler Durden puts it best with this fantastic rant early today (emphasis mine),

Since everyone is buying everything that is not nailed down, preferably with both hands, on massive margin if possible, and since the global reflation trade is on full bore following trillions in cheap money dumped by central banks to prevent another re-recession within the broader Depressionary downtrend (offset for the time being only courtesy of $7 trillion in consolidated central bank funny money), it only makes sense that following record January gasoline prices, that February would see an all time high in gas as well (a detailed breakdown can be found at the AAA's website). But fear not: as the laws of supply and demand have also been usurped by the Fed, as has common sense and basic economics, both these data points indicate that Q1 GDP will also come at an all time high, because the entire economy is now purely a reflection of Apple, which as noted previously is almost bigger than the entire retail sector by market cap, and today hit an all time high as well. In fact, we are now seeing a record in new all time highs across the spectrum (if not volume - shhhh about volume), it means that even as IBM just laid off another 1,000 North American employees, that the economy has never been better either.

Amen Tyler . I hope this upbeat market and Apple stock is treating you well. Stay frosty out there!