The Market On Friday

  Good morning and welcome to the weekend. It is 4 degrees with a hint of clearing here in Upstate NY. We are indeed into the thick cold part of the winter and I will reiterate that this is a good thing. Everything in the environment in this area needs the bitter cold. The trees need frozen ground to protect them from all sorts of things and the ground itself needs preservation with the extreme cold just as saving food in the freezer preserves it for future use.

  At 8:00 a.m. E.T. futures are modestly higher and the price of oil per barrel is slightly higher. The market is poised to open higher.

  Investors continue to advance the indexes as fourth quarter corporate results continue to beat expectations. The market is on a bull run and the natural fear arises knowing that the bear will follow but we don't exactly know when. Where's the crystal ball and yes some economists predict calamity for this year. Investors will continue to get a feel for the prolonged and ongoing public economic recovery, which is different from the already recovered corporate sector, when more data on the fundamental housing sector comes through today. Bundle up.

CNN: Stocks: Investors await earnings, home sales

Of the 142 companies that had reported results as of Thursday evening, 94 beat analysts' expectations.

...data on new home sales for December at 10 a.m. ET.