The Market On Thursday

Good morning. It is 66 degrees, cloudy, and raining on and off here in Upstate NY. As I write it is not raining. I was quite taken by the story of the three young men in Aurora who shielded their girlfriends from the line of fire and consequently lost their own lives. We tend to think of the world as being full of greed and selfishness but when push comes to shove basic human decency and intense compassion comes forward. Decency and humanity truly prevails. It's quite remarkable and we will remember these three young men - Jon Blunk, Alex Teves, and Matt McQuinn.

At 8:15 a.m. futures are significantly higher, the dollar is down against major world currencies, and the price of oil is up per barrel. The market is poised to open higher.

What could interfere with that opening is the weekly first time layoff number due out at 8:30.

Investors are stoked to hear that the eurozone managers will do everything possible to preserve the integrity of the euro in light of the tremendous eurozone financial crisis. Who knows what this means, but it sure sounds good.

Meanwhile investors will continue to parse through second quarter corporate results with newbie Facebook scheduled to reveal it's first ever quarterly report, after the closing bell, as a fresh publicly owned corporation. Now let's not get too sentimental here.

Otherwise more data on the housing market comes through today and apparently the trend is still weak but improving in that sector. Party on.

CNN: Stock futures surge on Draghi comments

...European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said the central bank would do whatever it takes to preserve the euro.


... the country's (Spain) borrowing costs remain unsustainably high.


Recent weakness in economic data has revived the debate over whether the Federal Reserve will take steps soon to stimulate the economy.