The Market On Monday

  Good morning. It is 31 degrees and overcast here in Upstate NY. The weather logos point to a real cold spell by midweek then back up to the "warmer" 30s by the weekend. It could prove to be a cold New Year's Day. We had a dusting of snow last night and right now the lawns are more white than late Fall grass. Two items that stuck my attention this morning were the second terrorist attack in Russia and the 75% millionaires tax being imposed in France. Talk about things that will shake up a country. Imagine if those terrorist attacks occurred in the USA, we'd soon be at war. Curiously we can handle mass shootings, somehow they don't count as terrorist attacks.

  At 8:25 a.m. ET futures are slightly higher and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open in the mixed fuzzy area.

  2013 has seen an incredible bull run in the stock market when viewed as a whole. Equities have done very well this last year. Everything I'm reading suggests that 2014 will continue with this run but the run will be slower, the pace of the bull run is slowing. Recall that we are about to enter into fourth quarter earnings season when corporate earnings reports will dominate. Fro today and tomorrow all we want to see is a flat market with low trading volume and not a lot of activity in the holiday week.

CNN: Stocks: Losing steam as 2013 winds down

Typically this time of year sees light trading volumes as many investors and traders take time off work.