Amazon.com (AMZN) is the stock that continues to amaze.  On Wednesday, it traded up another 1% in early trading, marking its eighth straight day of gains. In just that eight trading day span, the company has seen its market cap increase by over $30 billion which is more than the entire market cap of Target (TGT)!  The S&P 500 Retail Industry Group currently consists of 32 companies across a wide variety of the retail landscape, but interestingly enough, Wal-Mart (WMT) isn’t one of them as it is considered part of the Food & Staples Retail Industry Group.  Not including the Food and Staples retailers (where AMZN is also growing an increasingly large foothold), AMZN continues to steadily increase its size within the Retail group.

With a market cap of over $400 billion, AMZN is by far the largest component in the S&P 500 Retailing industry Group, accounting for more than a third of the group’s market cap.  The chart below shows the market cap of each company in the S&P 500 Retailing Industry Group.  With that, we have also included a line that shows the cumulative market cap of companies in the group from left to right.  So, at a market cap of $434 billion, AMZN accounts for 36% of the group’s market cap.  The next largest company in the group is Home Depot (HD), with a market cap of $177 billion.  Together, AMZN and HD account for more than half of the group’s market cap.  Then, if you add in Priceline (PCLN) and Lowe’s (LOW), you’re up to just under two-thirds of the entire group’s market cap!  Talk about top heavy!  Even in the broader S&P 1500, which includes more than 90 stocks, AMZN still accounts for one-third of the group.  As AMZN and the largest stocks in the Retail group have grown, the remaining stocks are becoming increasingly irrelevant.

After a very strong ‘hard’ data report earlier in the day from ADP, today’s ‘soft’ data point came in weaker than expected in the form of the ISM Services report.  While economists were forecasting the headline reading to come in at a level of 57.0 versus last month’s reading of 57.6, the actual reading came in at 55.2, which was the lowest reading since October.  On a combined basis, the ISM report for March declined to 55.4 from 57.6, marking the first m/m decline since October.

In terms of the Services PMI internals, March was a weaker month relative to February.  Of the report’s ten sub-components, six declined and four increased.  The biggest increases this month were in Export and Import Orders, while the largest decline came from Business Activity, Prices, and Employment.  On a y/y basis, breadth was much stronger with eight components increasing and just two (Inventories and Business Activity) declining.

Some of the more interesting charts from this month’s reports came from the Business Activity, Employment, and Export Orders components.  First, after looking as though it had broken its downtrend following last month’s strong showing, Business Activity fell back below that trendline this month.  At a level of 58.9, though, it is still indicative of solid growth.

With the March employment report coming on Friday, the Employment component of the ISM Services report is always worth watching.  This month, that component saw its largest drop since October and at 51.6 is showing only modest growth.  It’s hard to reconcile this relatively weak level with the strong ADP report earlier in the day, but there can always be noise from month to month.

With respect to Export Orders, the weaker dollar is really benefiting multi-nationals.  As shown in the chart below, this component now sits at its highest level since May 2007 after putting in its largest two-month increase since that same month.

The latest print of ADP Private Payrolls for the month of March came in at 263.5K, marking the third straight month that the US economy has created more than 240K private sector jobs.  To find the last time we saw that, you have to go all the way back to late 2005/early 2006.  The chart below shows the three-month moving average of ADP Private Payrolls going back to its beginning in 2002.  As shown, from a peak in mid-2014, the pace of job growth had been gradually drifting lower.  However, after a double-bottom in October, job growth has been accelerating once again.  At its current level of 253K, job growth is at its highest level since June 2014.

What’s so noteworthy about the recent pace of job growth is that it has caught economists almost completely off-guard.  For example, each of the last three ADP prints have exceeded expectations by 75K or more for an average beat of 89K.  Since economists started forecasting the monthly ADP print in 2006, the only other three-month period where ADP exceeded consensus estimates by a larger average amount was from December 2010 through February 2011.  Not only is that strong, but it’s also ‘hard’ data.  You know…the stuff that skeptics keep saying isn’t keeping up with so-called ‘soft’ survey data.

Bespoke co-founder Paul Hickey appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday to discuss the markets.  To view the segment, click on the image below.