STOCKS HIT NEW POST-CRISIS HIGHS: Here's What You Need To Know

Today's jobs report wasn't as exciting as it could've been. However, the modest up-move in stocks today sent the S&P 500 to its highest level since December 2007.

First the scoreboard:

Dow: 13,435, +43.8, +0.3 percent
S&P 500: 1,466, +7.1, +0.4 percent
NASDAQ: 3,101, +1.0, +0.0 percent

And now the top stories:

• The December employment situation report came out this morning, and it was... meh. Not too hot and not too cold, the numbers were effectively right in line with expectations. The U.S. economy added 155k new jobs, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.8 percent.

• There was quite a bit of anxiety ahead of this report, especially in the wake of yesterday's Federal Open Market Committee minutes, in which Fed members expressed a desire to end QE3 some time this year. This hawkish tone had some economists thinking that the Fed was itching to tighten monetary policy. As such, some experts like Deutsche Bank's Joe LaVorgna and Citi's Steven Englander wrote that a strong jobs report could trigger a sell-off in the markets as the Fed pulls away the "punch bowl."

• Then again, other experts like Goldman's Jim O'Neill and SocGen's Kit Juckes have written that market dynamics are changing. You see, since the financial crisis, correlations between asset classes tightened up and things would move in unison in what was called the "risk on/risk off" trade. O'Neill and Juckes believe this phenomenon is breaking down.

• Regardless, today's jobs report shouldn't take away from the fact that this continues to be the worst jobs recovery in the post-WWII era.

• Don't Miss: GOLDMAN: These Are The 40 Most Undervalued Stocks In The Market >

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