The Market On Wednesday

  Good morning. It is -7 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. That is ouch ouch cold. The weather logos are promising warmer temperatures in the next few days and I even see a number in the 40s in six days. Okay I hope someone's not putting that there just to keep our spirits up. The South is totally freaked about an impending ice storm, as we know. Nature is making good on the  promise of stronger more intense weather events.

  At 7:30 a.m. ET futures are flat and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open flat to slightly higher.

  Yellen spoke on Tuesday and investors loved what she said. As a result the market has rallied with the DOW even briefly crossing over 16K yesterday. That may happen again today as there is the appearance of a temporary sense of relief about the Fed's monetary policy. Not only that, but lately I'm also reading that the notion that 2014 will be a strong year for stocks is also re-arising. It's virtually impossible to predict the market's direction, in one sense speculation of any kind is a moot point. All we can do is put our ears to the ground and try to interpret the tea leaves.

CNN: Stocks: Perky on U.S. debt deal, China

Surprisingly robust January trade data from China...

....Janet Yellen...said the Fed will continue reducing its stimulus as the economy gradually improves, and said recent emerging market turmoil posed no real risk to the outlook.