The Market On Friday

Good morning and welcome to the weekend. It is 60 degrees and gorgeous here in Upstate NY. The Summer In March Of '12 reality continues on today. I think I saw my first ear of corn growing - yes I'm lying but it feels about right. Actually the forecast has the area returning to more normal temperatures for this time of year by next week. It will seem like a shock, but we do need some time to exhibit the sweater and light jacket collection.

At 8:00 a.m. futures are flat, the dollar is mostly down against major world currencies, and the price of oil is up per barrel. I don't really know so I am going to take a guess and say the market will open slightly higher. It's always a crap shoot.

Today investors will get data on new home sales in February. As you know the housing market is weak and lagging behind the already lagging recovery. That would be a double lag. Notice that mortgage rates tipped up this week although they are still low. If one were thinking about buying a house and had the stomach and money for it, this is your time to buy. If your willing to live where the buying is particularly cheap, the sky is the limit. $100,000 will get you glowing perfection in certain areas of the country of course you might not be able to find a job and you might need to be able to defend yourself 24/7.

In truth the American landscape in many parts of this country is downright depressing, it's vacant, devoid of cultural decoration, intellectually deflated, stuck in deep seated rumor and mischief, yuk. Still, one person's misery landscape is another person's heaven...

CNN: Stocks: Bracing for more housing data

(On Thursday) investors were rattled by worries of a global growth slowdown based on soft manufacturing data from Germany and China.


New home sales for February (data on Friday)