The Market On Tuesday

  Good morning. It is 46 degrees and lightly raining here in Upstate NY. We are having a snap in the super cold of January. The lawns are looking more and more clear of snow in my neighborhood, most are 98% snow free. It's just the big piles at the end of driveways that remain. I have not heard Maddow's take on Christie-gate and I'm looking forward to that this afternoon. There's a Democratic charge to go after Christie, can he withstand the political battle or will he become it's casualty. I suspect most people think he's right in the center of it, that it's all about his decisions not some underlings.

  At 8:25 a.m. ET DOW futures are modestly up and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open slightly higher.

  Investors are wondering if they can justify further gains with the upcoming slew of corporate fourth quarter reports coming their way. Nothing new here really this is pretty much how it always is at the beginning of earnings report season. However some of the fears come from preliminary talk. So, let's see what happens. Personally I believe that Wall Street and Main Street are partly disconnected as it were. Ordinary people have not advanced their incomes through this long ongoing bull market. However I don't believe the opposite is true. That would be that Main Street remains disconnected from Wall Street when the market turns down. Main Street might not gain in a bull market but it definitely loses in a bear market.

CNN: Stocks look to regain footing

Investors have been nervous that corporate earnings may not be strong enough to justify higher stock prices.

...a slew of quarterly earnings announcements over the coming weeks.