With a 40 percent jump in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in roughly 15 months, Wall Street’s hotshots are beginning to spend lavishly again, according to a story in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal.

The year 2003 may turn out to be the third-best year on record for the securities industry, the paper said. The story recounts an up tick in party bookings at downtown restaurants. “It’s an early warning sign about the return of the extravagant days,” said the president of an investment firm.