The Market On Monday

  Good morning. It is 55 degrees and cloudy looking like rain here in Upstate NY. The weekend flew by, it's always too short. It's great seeing leaves begin to reappear, the trees have been naked for many months now. Perusing the news briefly we see that there was a large explosion in Prague injuring many people. This type of single contained disaster which injures or kills many seems to be reoccurring lately with bombs, or gas explosions, and then that huge building collapse. It's depressing, frustrating, and it saddens us - it reminds us to appreciate the times when we are safe and the world seems benign in our proximity.

  At 7:00 a.m. futures are moderately higher and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open mixed.

  Investors will continue to parse corporate first quarter results. Also they will be reviewing a host of economic data on consumer spending, housing, income, and such. This is related to Friday's GDP numbers. Also note that Italy has formed a new government and this is viewed positively by the investment class. It is being noted that we are already beginning to save less. It strikes me that this could occur for two reasons, everything is more expensive and there's not much money to go around, or we are desiring that which is beyond our means. When I go grocery shopping I am standing there with my mouth open gawking at the prices of food. When I place items on the checkout in order to get an idea of cost, I count each separate thing as $5 then subtract $10 from the total. It usually comes in close.

CNN: Stocks: Starting week on a high note

Consumer spending, which alone accounts for roughly two-thirds of GDP, rose at a 3.2% annual pace...

At 10:00, the National Association of Realtors will release data on pending home sales.