The Market On Wednesday

  Good morning. It is 11 degrees and cloudy here in Upstate NY on this second day of 2013. It will take me at least a week before I stop writing or typing 2012. The big news of course is that our Tea Party Congress has passed the fiscal cliff deal. It is what it is and there is little that I have read by my more trusted progressive writers and scholars that suggest this is an exceptionally good thing.

  At 7:45 a.m. futures are significantly higher and the price of oil is up per barrel. The market is poised to open higher.

  With the passage of the fiscal cliff deal, investors can relax for a bit knowing what to expect for the next few months, until the next cliff soon approaches. With the market showing a bounce, one might assume that corporate America is pleased because after all what else is our government about anyhow if it's not pleasing corporate America.

CNN: Stocks set to rally on fiscal deal

Congress must soon raise the debt ceiling, and figure out plans for the postponed spending cuts and the federal budget.

...the Census Bureau will release its data on construction spending in November.