The Market On Tuesday

40,000 Americans lost their corporate jobs yesterday, virtually in a heartbeat. The number seems large but in reality the number only reflects the major players like Microsoft, Intel, etc. It does not reflect the smaller and less visible companies who are also laying off.

For example right in my community a local newspaper has laid off over a dozen people in their advertising department. There is a lot of state work in this area and so it is relatively stable economically. Yet why would a newspaper lay off advertising. Simple, because business is down. Imagine the implications in areas where a large company like GM has laid off a few thousand. Everything is shrinking, all types of business.

Futures are up, but this is meaningless in this market. Futures no longer indicate the direction of the market through the day. My wish is that it can at least perform like Monday where everything remained somewhat stable with gainers and losers.

If we all gather our collective mental power may be we can.... nah.

Reuters: Stocks seen opening higher; earnings in focus

...due to report quarterly results...Sun Microsystems...Yahoo...Bristol-Myers Squibb...DuPont...Verizon.