Stock market indices in the U.S. broke through resistance at near-term highs again today after bottoming in March; the S&P gained almost 2% at time of writing, pushing close the psychologically important 3,000 level. As we wrote yesterday, many analysts believe the market rally is entirely a function of stimulus and quantitative easing (printing lots of money) by the Federal Reserve, however other indicators point to real indications of recovering economic growth.

The primary example of this is the price of crude oil rising on international markets after going into negative contango only weeks ago. Today West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude are both up approximately 3%. Oil rising means markets expect higher economic activity and hence higher demand. This is real optimism for economic growth.

EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change (May 15) printed at -4.983M vs 1.151M consensus estimate.

After driving down the Eastern Seaboard over the last week, we can definitely say the South is opening up and humming economically.

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