Daily Data Flow: Stocks Still Rising; Foreclosures Increasing; Dollar Falls on Investor Cash-in

Stocks Continue Higher (Bloomberg)
Supported by last week’s drop in jobless claims, both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 continued rising today. The former reached yet another all-time high in what is its tenth straight day of gains, while the latter made progress towards a record of its own. “It’s a little bit more fuel on the fire,” Jeffrey Davis, chief investment officer at Lee Munder Capital Group, said. “It’s been a long time since you’ve seen momentum both on the market and technical front being supported by economic fundamentals. In spite of the fact the market’s not as cheap as it once was, it’s looking like the rally should continue.”

Foreclosures to Rise (CNBC)
According to RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure data and sale firm, February featured an increase in foreclosures, and that number could see future gains. “At a high level the U.S. foreclosure inferno has been effectively contained and should be reduced to a slow burn in the next two years,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “But dangerous foreclosure flare-ups are still popping up in states where foreclosures have been delayed by a lengthy court process or by new legislation making it more difficult to foreclose outside of the court system. Foreclosure starts have been steadily building in those states over the last several months and likely will end up as bank repossessions or short sales later this year.”

Dollar Falls against Euro, Yen (Reuters)
Today, the U.S. dollar fell against rival currencies, the yen and euro, mostly due to investors choosing to cash in on yesterday’s seven-month high. Still, analysts predict good things for the dollar going forward, thanks to expectations that the U.S. economy is outperforming other world leaders.