The Market On Wednesday

At 8:00 a.m. EST futures are slightly down, the dollar is up against the major currencies, and the price of oil is down just over $80 per barrel.

Investors are balancing housing data in the US and insolvency issues in Europe particularly in Portugal. Its a real see saw. One day we read that all is good with Greece and such, the next day the concerns are back and bigger than ever as if Europe is going to tumble into an extreme economic bind, hang on, it did.

My poor little country Portugal, the one that we all have such great faith in due to its green approach to energy including ocean wave energy, is defaulting. So what does that say, green energy is not yet the firm foundation of a permanently stable economy. Doesn't Portugal produce some 35% of its energy in the green way?

The hope would be that the US housing market is rebounding so well that the impending drop will reverse.

CNN: Stocks brace for early selloff

"First it was Greece, now Portugal, and the big question is who's next...We've had a big run up in stocks on very light volume, and some of these debt concerns might force investors to take some chips off the table."

Due out shortly after the start of trade are February new home sales data from the Census Bureau.

Reuters: Futures fall after Portugal sovereign rating cut

Fitch warned that further underperformance (in Portugal) this year and next could bring another downgrade but added that the government's long-term austerity plan was broadly credible.