The Market On Wednesday

  Good morning. It is a cold 29 degrees with a little bit of sunshine at the moment here in Upstate NY. The weather logos are showing snow every day through Sunday. Dreams of a white Christmas are alive and well. Some people really like the snow and others, not so much. I recall loving the snow as a child because it meant sledding, snow forts, and a sense of delicious comfort going into a warm house and dry clothes. Ah childhood...

  At 8:40 a.m. ET futures are slightly higher and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open in the slightly higher to slightly lower area.

  All roads in the investment world right now point back to Rome. Rome in this case is the Fed and in particular the Fed's QE3 program of infusing cheap liquidity into the wholesale system. So with a new budget deal possibly getting approved, the concern is whether or not this will increase the likelihood of tapering off QE3. Last week it was how the employment numbers for November would taper off QE3. So, what do we think is of main concern to the investment world - endless cheap liquidity or a reversal of the idiotic sequester policy.

CNN: Stocks eye budget deal for taper risk

Congressional negotiators reached a bipartisan budget compromise on Tuesday that would prevent another government shutdown...The deal would set spending levels, reduce the deficit and relieve some of the arbitrary, forced spending cuts.