The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. It is 23 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. Winter is here, man it snuck up on us fast. Dress warmly, wear gloves and a hat, it's cold out there.

  At 8:40 a.m. ET futures are modestly lower and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open lower.

  It's a case of the positives are actually negatives, a new budget deal might mean that QE3 tapers off sooner rather than later, or at least that is the fear. Combine this with a steep increase in first time layoffs for this last week and the market is set to kick off in the red. Is this the beginning of the end, so to speak. Are we at the beginning of a correction? Who knows.

CNN: Stocks' disappointing December continues

...a new U.S. budget deal raises the chances the Federal Reserve might start to scale back its support for the economy soon.