The Market On Tuesday

Good morning. It is 67 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. We need rain, it's getting drier out there. Out walking with the new dog earlier, I noticed it's quieter than usual, I suspect many are taking the day off. The Fourth is a good holiday, I prefer to find a quiet place to celebrate and ride it out. The fireworks, firecracker thing never really interested me. I don't really understand the fascination, of course I don't find car speed races very interesting either and the two seem intimately connected.

At 8:00 a.m. futures are flat, the dollar is mostly up against major world currencies, and the price of oil is up per barrel. Notice that oil is now creeping up towards $90 per barrel. The market is poised to open in the mixed area and one suspects energy squares will gain this morning.

Wall Street closes at 1 p.m. this afternoon, it's a shortened day.

The big news of the week will come on Friday when the government releases figures on employment gains in June. Expect to see anemic numbers and a lot of headlines chastising Obama and/or corporations for not hiring. I am more and more of the opinion that we are entering a new paradigm with the economy - the big job losses of 2008 and 2009 are not coming back, not really ever. The employment rate will remain high, the elite corporate jobs will be fewer, and people will start to adjust to a society with less free floating money and wealth in general. People will figure out how to get by but that will be more of the meme - getting by. It's a let down psychologically because in a society that is so deliriously materialistic and wealth equals happiness based, people will need to find meaning and happiness possibly from something much closer to the bone. Many will see this as a positive change, others will resist but ultimately that's the way it will go.

CNN: Stocks: Quiet day for Wall Street

Many investment professionals are taking the week off. U.S. markets will close at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday...


...manufacturing activity in the euro area continued to decline in June, while the region's unemployment rose to a record high. The Chinese government's report of manufacturing activity declined slightly, but remained above the level indicating expansion.