The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. It is 30 degrees and lightly snowing here in Upstate NY. We got a dusting of snow overnight and for the time being everything is back to white. The weather logos predict it will get warmer and sunnier. We shall see. I thought it was interesting that a new poll shows Hillary extending her lead over Christie in light of Bridgegate. Without perusing the details I would suspect that this is about a shift in the thinking of the independent voters. It will be fascinating to see how Christie skates through his self created mess.

  At 8:30 a.m. DOW futures are slightly lower and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open flat.

  Investors are parsing their way through fourth quarter reports. That's probably the main thrust of the market at the moment although significant economic reports will also be a factor. Today they get numbers on inflation and that has been remarkably low and consistent. This is connected to quantitative easing which is designed to ease credit and thereby stimulate economic activity, and it's also due to the very low Federal Reserve Interest Rate.

CNN: Stocks: Earnings wave rolls on

...investors wait for more reports before making any bold moves.

J.C. Penney...announced plans to eliminate 2,000 jobs and close 33 stores.