More Encouraging Reports Today – Economic Highlights

Revised GDP numbers for Q3 came out this morning, as did new jobless claims — both reports were impressively good for the U.S. economy. Gross Domestic Product for the quarter was revised up to 3.6% from 2.8% to the largest quarterly figure since Q1 of 2012. Jobless claims ticked back under 300K for only the second time in recent memory, indicating the possibility of a new, lower range being established.

Of course, this ratchets up talk about Fed tapering starting sooner than later. It's medicine we're going to have to take eventually, and will mark a longer-term positive economic development, but the markets see the "free-lunch" aspect of Fed bond buybacks as a near-term negative.

Meanwhile, the yield on the 10-year note is climbing, and has been since yesterday's impressive ADP (ADP) private sector jobs report. The range between the 2-year and 10-year is now the widest it's been since July 2011.

Tomorrow's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) non-farm payroll report is the main course this week, however. And if the narrative from these early economic markers this week holds, we should see another impressive development in U.S. employment statistics — significantly above 200K would surely be a signal that economic growth has begun to gain traction, and also that "taper talk" will begin to accelerate.

Now, because it is the holiday season, jobs news — especially in retail and other services, like package delivery — always picks up. Also consider that much of what we've seen with these positive numbers in employment and economic growth are merely filling the void from the setbacks of the federal government shutdown earlier this fall.

But if anything, this is proof that it's hard to keep our giant economy down for long. Moving into top-ranked stocks ought to be a good course of action for investors looking to endure the current "good news is bad news" scenario.