The Street with a 2nd day to digest the dovish news yesterday from the Fed zoomed up a whopping 180 points on the Dow helped along by a whole string of other terrific news, some of historic proportions.  In addition to new hopes over Greece as the EU announced (then denied) concessions, consumer prices had their biggest boost in two years, jobless claims hit a 15 year low, and factory activity a 6 month high.  But none of this compared to the historic news from the Nasdaq which today reached a new high that finally put it in the black from the dot-com bubble for the first time since 2000.  Today, even Greece could not dampen anyone's spirits.  For the first time, investors no longer eye a Grexit as a trigger to global catastrophe but has now lowered it into the category of "no big deal" as the new sentiment seems to be that even if the unlikely does happen, the EU can probably handle it.  Despite all this positive news and sentiment, at 6.2 billion volume was only slightly elevated from recent averages.

Markets | Thu Jun 18, 2015 6:30pm EDT

Nasdaq at record as Wall Street runs on strong data; Greece eyed

BY RODRIGO CAMPOS

DJ:    18,115.84  +180.10    NAS:      5,132.95  +68.07      S&P:      2,121.24  +20.80

(Reuters)  The Nasdaq Composite on Thursday erased its last standing milestone from the dot-com era as it set a record intraday high, with stocks on Wall Street in rally mode boosted by strong economic data.

A report in German newspaper Die Zeit about possible concessions made to Greece by its international creditors, which briefly extended the market's rally, was later denied by EU diplomats.

The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC hit a high of 5,143.316, topping the previous 5,132.52 record which stood since March 10, 2000. It also set a record closing high, as did the Russell 2000 .RUT, while the S&P 500 closed within 0.5 percent of its record.

U.S. consumer prices posted last month their largest increase in more than two years, jobless claims applications fell last week to a near 15-year low and factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region accelerated to a six-month high in June.

"Economic growth is beginning to make itself more evident," said John Manley, chief equity strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York.

Manley said the perceived dovishness of the Federal Reserve's statement and estimates after its meeting on Wednesday continued to support equities. "The Fed is going to be very slow to raise interest rates," he said. Markets have closely watched for signals from the U.S. central bank as it prepares to raise rates for the first time in almost a decade.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 180.1 points, or 1 percent, to 18,115.84, the S&P500 .SPX gained 20.8 points, or 0.99 percent, to 2,121.24 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXICadded 68.07 points, or 1.34 percent, to 5,132.95.

Euro zone leaders will hold an emergency summit on Monday to try to avert a Greek default, after bank withdrawals accelerated and government revenue slumped as Athens and its international creditors remained deadlocked over a debt deal.

The ECB told a meeting of euro zone finance ministers it was not sure if Greek banks would be able to open on Monday, said officials with knowledge of the talks.

The Greek situation is an emotional one for investors and it is hard to know how exactly markets will react, said Wells Fargo's Manley.

"In 2010 (a Greek default) would have been a real problem. I don't see a lot of ramifications among financial institutions if it happened now, and if there were, the ECB and IMF will know how to deal with it," he said.

All the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher with the health index .SPXHC leading with a 1.5 percent rise.

Fitbit (FIT.N) shares ran up as much as 59.5 percent to $31.90 in their market debut before closing at $29.68, 48.4 percent above the $20 IPO pricing.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,062 to 1,015, for a 2.03-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,949 issues rose and 833 fell for a 2.34-to-1 ratio favoring advancers. The benchmark S&P 500 index posted 41 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite set 161 new highs and 30 new lows.

About 6.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, above the 5.96 billion daily average so far this month, according to BATS Global Markets data.