The Market On Wednesday

Good morning. It is around 20 degrees and semi cloudy here in Upstate NY. My morning walk was invigorating. Still lots of black ice on sidewalks and road crossings, hopefully we all can remain upright.

At 7:50 a.m. futures are modestly up, the dollar is mixed, and oil is up.

It should be clear as a bell that oil is at the center of the economic world. Investors are having fits over Libya's revolution. Oil prices are climbing and gas prices are following that lead. When there is a spike in oil, investors freak out. The worry is that high oil prices will suppress growth.

In short there is volatility in the system right now. The markets are reacting moment to moment over the state of oil.

Data on the employment picture is also coming out today preceding Friday's big report on how employment activity did or did not do in January.

CNN: Stocks set for slight bounce up

"...Saudi Arabia and other countries have spare capacity to easily offset Libyan shortfalls."


The sell-off (on Tuesday) came as oil prices for April delivery continued to head higher, climbing $2.66 to settle at $99.63 a barrel...


Oil for April delivery rose 18 cents to $99.82 a barrel, having reached as high as $100.64 on the reports of violence in Libya.