The Market On Friday

  Good morning and welcome to the weekend. It is 23 degrees and cloudy here in Upstate NY. The logo is promising a temperature of 37 degrees later today and that will be the first above freezing mark in a while. It will feel like a heat wave. Well, the extra good news, today is the first day of the Yang Wooden Horse. According to what I read, we are in for a more promising period of time. Do you think we could use it? Yes we can and I'm banking on the wisdom of Asian astrology to lead us to a higher ground. At the minimum, it's an optimistic thought and that in itself can be helpful.

  Wall Street is not as enthused about the first day of the Yang Wooden Horse. At 8:30 a.m. ET DOW futures are significantly lower and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to tank at the opening bell.

  Nothing pops out in the linked article that indicates the why of the big drop this morning. One might postulate that this is a continuation of the economic problems affecting the developing countries and consequently the global economy in light of a tapering off of quantitative easing. On the other hand we are due for a market correction and is this it? Who knows.

CNN: Stocks: Closing out a jittery January

At 9:55 a.m., the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters will release the latest edition of their Consumer Sentiment Index.