Art Cashin said the market is in "pretty good shape" now that stocks have decisively broken above their previous highs, despite a "little bit of indecision right around the opening."
Cashin, UBS' director of floor operations at the NYSE, told CNBC's Bob Pisani around midday, "They looked at the (economic) data and said it's certainly less threatening than some of the data we've feared and the weather continues to be that 'get out of jail free' card for data that doesn't hold up. So (Fed chair Janet) Yellen did well (at her testimony on Thursday), the market did well and now they're carrying on."
He's especially encouraged that stocks moved solidly above technical resistance levels. "No more tiptoeing around. We cleaned out not only the closing high yesterday—now we've made an intraday high again today."
—By CNBC's Alex Crippen. Follow him on Twitter @alexcrippen.