After months of nasty volatility, uncomfortable worries and policy dissonance from the Federal Reserve (first hawkish, now dovish), the Nasdaq 100 rose above its October high to bag a new record on Wednesday. The move caps a gain of nearly one-third off of the low set in late December (Christmas Eve, actually) and comes just days ahead of the long Easter holiday.
Tech stocks, obviously, have been the star with buying attention focusing on familiar mega-cap names as well as the entire semiconductor sector. The group is getting attention ahead of an expected rebound in global manufacturing activity as well as the fact that processing power is pretty much found in every manufactured good these days. The Internet of Things and all that.