The Market On Monday

  Good morning. It is 33 degrees and overcast here in Upstate NY. The lamb part of March has not really arrived, it's more like the wild penguin. The weather logos are promising temperatures in the 50s in the next week and that will indeed feel like a heat wave. We are under duress here in this part of the country, the relentless winter of '14 has pounded us into a frigid delirium.

  At 8:40 a.m. futures are moderately higher and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open in a mixed area.

  Turmoil is the highlight of March think Ukraine. The market has gone down and up and right now appears modestly stable for a day or two. The big news arrives on Friday when the job creation numbers for the month of March are revealed by the Federal government. That is always a milestone report. Many times the market remains relatively flat until that data arrives but there is always room for a modifying factor to suddenly arise and shake it all up.

CNN: Stocks: Ending the quarter on the up

There is little economic or corporate news on the docket Monday, but investors are gearing up for a busy week which concludes with jobless data Friday.