The Market On Friday

Good morning and welcome to October. Its still raining here in upstate NY. I had to jump around lots of puddles this morning as I took my walk. Had on the rain jacket and the rain pants and still got all soaked.

At 8:00 a.m. futures are slightly up, oil is up, and the dollar is down.

We are now officially into the fourth quarter. This means that third quarter reports are right around the corner. It goes without saying that this will be a strong factor in the market's performance over the next period.

September was an outstanding month on Wall Street. Equities gained and the general economic news oscillated between positive and negative. Yesterday's unemployment numbers came through slightly better than expected. People will be hiring in the next period as well but it is temporary employment. Temporary employment is better than nothing but it is also generally low paying and not enough to produce career like results, as we know.

CNN: Stocks headed for gains

"...Things aren't necessarily getting better, they just aren't getting worse."


Traders will be watching for a report on personal spending and income due out at 8:30 a.m. ET from the Commerce Department.


Crude oil futures for November delivery gained $1 to $80.97 a barrel.