THE STOCK MARKET CONTINUES TO BURN HOT:

Wall Street shot higher Wednesday, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to its first record close in more than seven years, as investors grew more confident that the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates in the second half of 2007. The Dow Jones industrials also reached a new high close.

I credit the new Democratic Congress! What does this mean? Beats me. I tend to be bearish on the markets — every new high looks to me like the top before the plunge. But I’m usually wrong: Like Paul Krugman, I’ve predicted nine of the past two recessions.