The Market On Wednesday

Good morning. It is 41 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. This morning's walk was a little on the chilly side but the effect was good, the new dog is right by my side as I type and she is sleeping. A good dog is a tired dog and this one needs a lot of exercise to wear her out. As we know people are endlessly interesting. Lately I am beginning to think that most can go into one of two categories, people that thrive on conflict and people that thrive on cooperation. There are people that seek out fights, verbal and/or physical and there are people that want everybody to get along respectfully. It may very well be another aspect of the authoritarian brain versus the sane human brain...

At 8:20 a.m. DOW futures are moderately higher, the dollar is mostly down against major world currencies, and the price of oil is up per barrel. The market is poised to open higher.

As I read this morning's reports two items stand out in my mind.

First there is Apple which has posted a mind boggling profit in the first quarter. Needless to say that has lots of coat tails and the market is responding very favorably. Why didn't we buy Apple way back in March of 2009 when the price per share was below $100? There's nothing quite like quintupling your money.

Second, Fed Chair Bernanke will be commenting on Fed policy later on today. As we know, when Bernanke speaks all of Wall Street and the entire global economic infrastructure listens.

CNN: Stocks: Apple to provide a lift

Global markets got a lift from better-than-expected earnings from Apple...


The day's economic highlight will likely be the Fed's policy announcement and Bernanke's comments in the early afternoon.


...the Commerce Department's durable goods report for March...