The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. It is 2 degrees and snowing here in Upstate NY. The Winter Storm Warning for this area predicts accumulations of 6 to 12 inches and that it will taper off by mid morning on Friday. Yeah, we got snow but it is the winter and winter is not for sissies. Driving is always a concern, so give yourself a lot of room between you and the next guy. Also, where I live we get power outages all winter long, so make sure you got gas for the generator. Yours truly has been advised to rest for two more weeks post surgery, so I will be good to go mid month resuming work activity with caution and moderation. I've gotten permission to resume running of all things, except we got snow.

  At 8:15 a.m. ET futures are slightly lower and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open lower.

  Robert Reich was talking about how we need to remove our sense of how well the economy is performing based on the DOW. He points out that salaries have remained stagnant and that the poor are working at a pathetic minimum wage level thus boosting corporate profits. I would also add to that QE3 has given corporations a much better looking balance sheet with ridiculously low interest rate loans. I think Reich is correct however when and if the next financial crisis occurs, and considering we are presently in a pop-able QE bubble as it were now, a catastrophic collapse will definitely negatively impact the lower 99%. This is a case where trickle down will work. Trickle down disaster does work. So in short the DOW at a high level does not mean that the overall economy is improving for we bums and ingrates, but a tanking market will definitely hurt we bums and ingrates as our financial and corporate structures freeze up and the burden of rescuing their failed asses once again falls on a depleted middle class AKA we bums and ingrates. This is why I am at present adding my voice to those supporting public banking institutions.

CNN: Stocks could lose steam in first session of 2014

...volume will likely remain light as many traders are still off for the holidays.

Most Asian markets ended the day with small gains. The Shanghai Composite index moved up by 0.9%.