The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. It is a chilly 39 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. The warm temperatures are taking their time making an appearance in these parts. According to a NASA report we read last week, this is the result of man-made global warming. The East is remaining extra cold and the West is into a drought and heat. I would suspect that most people around here have not put away the winter coats just yet. Last night I was out for a walk with the winter cap and gloves on.

  At 8:40 a.m. ET futures are modestly higher and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open higher.

  I'm reading that jobless claims rose to 329,000 in the last week so that might put a little brake on things. Otherwise it's clear sailing. Darling Apple has produced a better than expected earnings report, plus the company is raising it's dividend and they are doing a 7 for 1 split of their stock to bring the $500 per share price down. Tech is doing nicely and so is today's opening. Bottom line - we all could have been rich if we bought shares of Apple at the pit of the recession when it was below $100 a share. We could have more than quintupled our investment.

CNN: Stocks: Buoyed by Apple, Facebook (but not GM)

Apple shares rallied after the company said it was expanding its stock buyback program and increasing its dividend, while reporting quarterly results that beat expectations.