Last week's news that the Federal Reserve Board would raise its overnight borrrowing rate 25 basis points brought a yawn from economists and a surprising cheer from investors. The rate bump, along with tow others in 2017, was entirely expected but investors seemed to be cheered by the fact that the Fed's comments echoed their own enthusiasm for the state of the economy. Most uplifting was the commentary on inflation, which is now heading north of the Fed's two percent target. Because wages are rising even faster than inflation, investors expect the consumer to be even more active.

Employment news continues to be strong. Aside from the encouraging February report of new jobs, yesterday's report of jobless claims found only 241,000 newly unemployed. Claims for unemployment have remained below the 300,000 benchmark for 107 straight weeks.