The Market On Thursday

Good morning. It is 55 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. We were just out walking and it is gorgeous out, I could live in this type of weather pattern all year long. It's paradise, for a few months out of the year we literally live in paradise. I am back to the chiropractor this morning, the holiday threw the appointments off but now it's back to the cracking.

At 7:30 a.m. futures are moderately higher, the dollar is down against all major world currencies, and the price of oil is up per barrel. Right now the trifecta is in and the market is poised to open higher, however that could change between now and 9:30 a.m. for a few reasons.

The first is the weekly first time layoffs number which is a barometer of employment trends in the USA especially when seen in the context of previous weeks. A bad number here could throw a wrench in the slight but steady improvement meme floated out there for our convenience and to alleviate our despair.

Second, the government will release a revised number for the first quarter GDP. Needless to say a revision downwards could disappoint Wall Street.

On the other hand Germany produced some better than expected employment numbers and since Germany is a top 5 world economy this is salient information.

I would have to say this is the first morning where I am reading about troubles in Ireland in quite some time. The focus of course has been on Greece and Spain. The overall point here is that the eurozone is a mess and until some stability in Europe occurs, the market is vulnerable and finicky.

CNN: Nervous investors weigh good news

Germany's May jobs report boosted market optimism...(Germany's) unemployment rate fell to a two-decade low of 6.7%.


...voters in Ireland are expected to approve more stringent budget rules in a referendum.


...Spain not being able to fund bank bailouts that could reach as much as €100 billion.


...investors will receive reports on U.S. initial jobless claims, private sector jobs and manufacturing.