The Market On Wednesday

Good morning. It is 59 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. The post Irene cleanup continues in this neighborhood. Mostly everyone has power back and so the loud noisy symphony of gas powered generators is over. I walked by some carved up downed trees earlier. The roads are now all passable and useable. The immediate environment is fine, communities in nearby Vermont, the Catskills, Schoharie County, and Schenectady County have a ways to go.

At 8:15 a.m. futures are significantly higher, the dollar is mixed, and oil is down. Maybe August will end with a bang.

August was a very harsh month. Besides an earthquake and a hurricane, all signs were pointing to a greater collapse in the stock market. The fear of another recession was tangible. The last week has seen gains based mostly on words from the Fed that some kind of stimulus appears to be pending - call it QE3.

Friday will present that sticky report on employment in August. Hard to imagine that being on the very good side, but stranger things have happened.

CNN: Stocks head for solid end to choppy month

...on Thursday...Wall Street will get two reports on the job market, ahead of Friday's highly-anticipated employment report for August. Reports on factory orders and and regional manufacturing activity are also on tap.


Oil for October delivery slipped 96 cents to $87.94 a barrel.