The Market On Thursday

Good morning. It is very cold and sunny here in Upstate NY. The Sun is climbing higher and higher each day and soon we will push the clocks forward. Notice that Obama has cleared a path for gay marriage. Pit that against the assault on women's rights and workers' unions being waged by the GOP and one can see that the larger battle for the country's center is in full command.

At 8:30 a.m futures are moderately down, the dollar is mixed, and oil is up over $100 per barrel.

Today the investment journalists are back to Libya as the instigator of fear and loathing over the world's oil supply. Recall that the other day, that was not considered a problem.

My opinion, and I must emphasize the word opinion, is that investors are going on a profit taking run and the Libyan crisis is just a convenient backdrop or coat rack to hang the fall on.

CNN: Stocks set for lower open as oil hovers at $100

...profit-taking after a strong couple of months on Wall Street, in the face of concerns that a "larger, systemic problem" could be haunting oil supply in the near future.


The Commerce Department issues its new home sales report at 10 a.m. ET, which will be followed by a report on crude oil inventories.


Oil for April delivery gained $2.72 to $100.82 per barrel, dropping from the earlier prices of more than $101 a barrel.