The Market On Tuesday

Good morning. It is 24 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. We are briefly back to the feel of Winter but the forecast has the temperatures heading back up into the 50s again. In a way this is more like it, more like what we are used to in all previous years. I might have had my last sensation of numb cold hands this morning while walking the dog. Might not miss that.

At 8:15 a.m. futures are flat, the dollar is up against all major world currencies, and the price of oil is ever so slightly higher per barrel. The market is poised to open in the flat zone.

Investors will be parsing more data on the housing market today. In addition Bernanke will be lecturing this afternoon, and as we know his words can alter the value of the world economy in an instant. That must be an amazing rush - holding that level of power in the world.

The expectation is that interest rates will continue to be held at the barest and this is delightful news to the investment world.

CNN: Stocks: Ready to hold steady

On top of home price data from the Case-Shiller 20-City Index, investors will also look at corporate results from homebuilder Lennar for a reading on the sector.


...Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver a lecture at George Washington University, and a House Financial Services subcommittee will hold a hearing on aid to the eurozone.