The Market On Friday

Good morning and welcome to the weekend. It is 29 degrees and the Sun is starting to shine here in Upstate NY. We have a decent coating of snow on all the lawns and the streets are pretty much completely clear. Sidewalks are a little icy but by the end of the day that will change as the temperature rises. The new dog just got back from a play date with her good buddy on the next block over. I enjoy watching the dogs play, they take turns on the offense and the defense. I had theory about their playing as I watched this morning. As they bite each others' face and neck parts, this releases a type of hormone that somehow encourages their bonding in the pack.

At 8:00 a.m. futures are modestly down, the dollar is up against major world currencies, and the price of oil is down per barrel. The market is poised to open lower.

As you know the market has been on a real tear with the indexes at levels not seen since 2008. The question on everyone's mind is how much longer can this continue. Good question. As always I am reading completely contradictory reports, warnings of another recession and promises of higher index numbers in March. Perhaps the two are not contradictory, only sequential.

I tend to predict on the pessimistic side and believe a correction is coming sooner than later. The DOW has gone as high as 14,000, roughly, and the conditions for a booming economy are not in place. Let's get real.

Some of the major thorns with the eurozone debt crisis at present have some ameliorating qualities, but it would not be correct to think that that mess is cleaned up. No need to recap all the existing problems with our own economy, the list is long. Yet something is actually going on that is slightly more on the optimistic side. Economic indicators continue to be encouraging.

Maybe we are in a period where we can just breathe a little bit easier for a moment.

CNN: Stocks: Going for 3 straight up weeks

The Dow and S&P 500 are around their highest levels since the summer of 2008...


...25 of the 27 leaders in the European Union signed a so-called fiscal compact...


...Greece appears to have secured a second bailout...


...close watch on the global oil market and rising gas prices.