STOCKS SOAR TO A NEW RECORD: Here's what you need to know

Stocks soared to a new record high as investors sought out risky assets after Hurricane Irma caused less damage than originally thought.

The S&P 500 climbed 1% as fears over escalating North Korea tensions ebbed, erasing last week's 0.6% loss in the benchmark index. Meanwhile, both the Dow and the more tech-heavy Nasdaq surged 1.1%.

First up, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 22,047.29, +249.50, (+1.14%)
• S&P 500: 2,487.98, +26.55, (+1.08%)
• Nasdaq: 6,429.24, +69.06, (+1.10%)
• US 10-year yield: 2.13%, +0.064
• WTI crude oil: $48.04, +0.56, +1.18%

1. Equifax is getting crushed - and traders are betting it's going to get so much worse. The stock is down 18% since it announced last week that hackers may have the personal details of nearly half the US population, and options speculators are positioning for continued weakness.

2. Goldman Sachs provides two big reasons the stock market is safe from a correction. The first is a lack of investor euphoria, and the second is persistent economic expansion.

3. The creator of Wall Street's 'fear gauge' says people don't understand it as well as they should. Vanderbilt professor Bob Whaley, who created the VIX, thinks the investment community could use a little more education around what the index actually does.

4. China reverses course after the yuan's recent strengthening. The People's Bank of China will remove an October 2015 measure that made it more expensive for onshore banks to use currency forwards, as well as a January 2016 reserve requirement on foreign banks' yuan deposits.

5. Wall Street is facing a gloomy reality. Citigroup's CFO said on Monday that the bank was on pace for a 15% year-over-year decline in third quarter trading revenues, while a Barclays analyst estimated that all of Wall Street would see a 12% trading decline.

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