The Market On Thursday

Good morning. We are having some light snow. Earlier I was out walking and the snow was stinging my eyes as it whipped around in the wind. I really like the feel of that.

At 8:30 a.m. futures are flat, the dollar is mixed, and oil is slightly up per barrel remaining over $90 per barrel for a few days now. Notice that gas prices are climbing again. The national average is over $3 per gallon. Relative to the rest of the world its still pretty cheap.

The journalists are indicating that the day is supposed to be relatively quiet. We shall see. Investors will be looking at data on personal income and new house sales. The first time layoffs number is slightly improved again.

CNN: Stocks positioned for a flat open

Pre-holiday trading sessions are usually pretty quiet.


U.S. markets will be closed Friday for the holiday weekend.


Oil for February delivery gained 12 cents to $90.60 a barrel.


Gas prices have risen more than 4% from a month ago, and are nearly 16% higher than the a year ago.