The Market On Thursday

Good morning. It is 24 degrees and cloudy here in Upstate NY. Its been particularly dark this morning and allegedly we may see some snow. In spite of that we may also see temperatures back in the 40s in the near future. That's strange for January, easily the coldest of the cold months in this area. I've never completely understood why the temperatures do not coincide with the Sun's position in the sky. One might think that December 22 would be the coldest day due to the least amount of daylight available. Right now the days' light is growing longer and yet the temperatures generally start to descend. There is a lag between the Sun's position in the sky and temperatures. Somebody has to explain this to me. Same thing in the Summer, the Sun is at its highest point around June 21st yet we talk about the dog days of August. By this reasoning the middle of the Winter would be December 22nd and the middle of the Summer June 21st.

At 8:10 a.m. futures are moderately down, the dollar is up against major world currencies, and oil is down. The market is poised to open lower.

Today's article once again brings back the threat and fear of the Eurozone debt crisis. The crisis has been absent from reports in the last week. France is selling off bonds and the interest rate has had to go higher approaching 4%. This simply means that the French are having a harder time borrowing money. It is soon expected that France will lose its AAA rating just as the US did in 2011.

Beyond the Eurozone crisis investors will look at data on the job market, weekly first time layoffs and job creation or lack there of in December. If bad is added to bad the market could wind up being a real stinker today.

CNN: Stocks: Europe's woes back in focus

The threat of a downgrade to France's pristine AAA credit rating is on investors' minds...


(On Thursday) investors will also mull over the latest economic data in the United States including reports on unemployment claims, job cuts and the strength of the services sector.