The Market On Friday

Good morning and welcome to the Irene weekend. It is 62 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. People are a little nervous about this weekend and how Irene might affect everything. Coastal states in the Northeast are trying to prepare for Irene. I hope everyone that is close to the ocean is taking all the proper precautions. We are 150 miles or so inland so if the eye of the storm heads in our direction it should simmer down with no water to draw energy from. Still it could get windy and I expect if that happens we might see some trees down maybe even some power outages. Keep your candles handy.

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

Today its all about Bernanke's 10:00 a.m. speech on the economy. Investors have been anxiously awaiting this talk. What will Bernanke do to spur the investment economy along. The speculation is all over the place. Will he start QE3? Regardless, Bernanke's words will have a powerful influence on the direction of the market today and probably for some time to come. He is expected to be the calm captain in the midst of a great storm. By noontime the dust will be settled.

CNN: Stocks brace for Bernanke

The market momentum has been attributed to investor hopes that Bernanke will announce new measures to spur economic growth, when he gives his speech at Kansas City Fed's annual retreat at Jackson Hole, Wyo., at 10 a.m. ET.


Oil for October delivery slipped 40 cents to $84.93 a barrel.