The Market On Thursday

Good morning. It is 33 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. The mornings have been chilly but the day quickly warms up. The morning walk went smoothly except we are trying to work on the new dog's habit of barking. Food is the key. We divert her attention, try to get her away from the object of barking with a high value treat. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. Another key element is to make sure that the dog is hungry - breakfast comes later.

At 8:00 a.m. futures are flat, the dollar is down against major world currencies, and the price of oil is down per barrel. The market is poised to open in a lackluster mixed type of way.

According to the financial articles, investors are a little nervous about the weekly first time unemployment number. Recall that the number was shrinking lending credence to the notion that there was a minor jobs recovery going on. However in recent weeks the first time numbers have been getting larger which indicates that the employment picture is more miserable than anyone's hope would want. Regardless the data will be released at 8:30 a.m. As usual a bad number will sink the market and a better than expected number will cause some relief and some gains at the opening bell.

CNN: Stocks: Choppy trading ahead

...Labor Department releases weekly initial jobless claims.


European stocks were mixed in middaytrading.