The Market On Friday

Good morning and welcome to the weekend. It is 70 degrees and very lightly raining here in Upstate NY. Many of us were expecting a wild storm last night and late yesterday afternoon, and by wild I mean very strong winds. Many places in the Northeast got those strong winds but we fortunately did not. We did make preparations taking things that would blow around in the yard inside and closing windows, etc. But that did not materialize. I see that two people died from this storm, tragic and so traumatic. I think many of us are catching on to the reality that stronger weather is here to stay, this is global warming, and it's not going to get lighter either.

At 8:20 a.m. futures are mildly 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 slightly higher except...

The government will release it's first estimate of the second quarter GDP at 8:30 a.m., ten minutes from when I am writing this. It's simple, the GDP number will be the meat and potatoes of the day. Yes lots of reports are coming through and investors will parse them accordingly but the GDP is the GDP.

CNN: Stocks: Investors await U.S. GDP data

...investors await the government's reading of U.S. economic growth during the second quarter...


...new report due on consumer sentiment...