The market got some good economic data points but shrugged them off.  The US’ current account deficit was smaller than expected, The Philly Fed manufacturing index spiked higher showing its best reading in 2 years, and the leading economic indicator index also rose more than expected.  All of this points to a continued grind higher in the US economy.

The largest bank in the US JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay a $920 million fine to settle its liabilities from the $6.2 Billion London whale derivatives loss last year.  That news sent shares of JPM 1.5% lower.

Rite Aid saw their stock surge 23% higher after the drug store chain raised their profit forecast and reported a fourth straight quarterly profit.

And Priceline.com’s shares closed up .6% yesterday to $1000.62/share, making it the first stock in the S&P 500 to close above $1000/share.

And today after the close of trading Alcoa, Hewlett-Packard, and Bank of America will be dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial average Index to be replaced by Nike, Visa, and Goldman Sachs.  The changes were prompted by the low stock prices of the 3 companies being removed since the Dow is a price weighted index.