The Market On Wednesday

Financial articles in general are very skittish in that they report on the moment to moment goings on of Wall Street but generally do not provide a broad context or plateau for the overall state of the economy. This is of course obvious and simultaneously somewhat difficult to follow.

Its difficult to follow because from day to day we could very easily be drawn into the sudden emotional turnings of investors as they moment by moment react to data on housing, employment, earnings, Fed reports and such. This is what financial reporters do. There seems to always be a new horizon literally hour by hour.

We have trends in America in all sectors and quite obviously in entertainment. But nothing beats the pattern of quick trends than the reports coming from Wall Street.

After roughly one week of gloomy news interspersed with last week's "optimistic" data on employment, the finance articles today are reporting on, yes that right, renewed optimism. Monday, investors were slashing their virtual wrists as it were.

Futures are up and the level that they are up indicates that the market probably will begin with a sharper rise. The news that the Fed will not tamper with interest rates comes out later this afternoon, although sometimes they move the releases up accordingly. Add the rise in futures to the Fed news and then temper it with data on new housing and durable goods and who knows, but the likelihood of a rise in the DOW and S&P seems strong as opposed to weak.

Reuters: Stock futures rise ahead of data, Fed

At the end of its two-day meeting, the Fed is widely expected by economists to leave the benchmark federal funds rate at almost zero and soothe concerns it could hike rates as the economy shows signs of stabilizing.

S&P 500 futures rose 4.30 points...

Reuters: World stocks edge up ahead of Fed

"The Fed may adopt even stronger language to signal that it is likely to keep rates on hold in coming months, in order to combat rising market expectations of near-term tightening..."