The non-manufacturing ISM was strong across the board. There was only a modest drop in the prices paid index and most of the indices related to growth stayed quite strong -- taken together with the ISM factory report on Tuesday it suggests the U.S. economy stayed quite solid in October.

These figures confirm the picture of a manufacturing sector facing pressures from all sides.

The low jobless rate, the steady upward creep in wage increases and the solid employment gain will all help convince the Bank of Canada it is on the right path by continuing to tighten policy.

The bottom line is that as long as equities remain aloft, there is precious little outside of Fed tightening to cool growth, ... And that tightening may need to be much more aggressive than the market currently expects to bring (economic) growth closer to the Fed's comfort zone of around 3.5 percent.

The overriding story for the equity market Thursday was the exuberant reaction to Mr. Greenspan's latest musings,

The overriding story for the equity market Thursday was the exuberant reaction to Mr. Greenspan's latest musings.