The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. It is 56 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. I have yet to get outside but it looks fantastic out there. If I were a hiking skip my commitments kind of person, I would head for the hills. One small comment here - are you like me in that you are getting sick of all these articles that list things? For example - the six things to know about sex, or, the eight things to do to your house, or, the five things corporations don't want you to know. What is going on with this? Has some Harvard grad figured out that the best way to get people to read things or to get someone's attention is to give them a list upfront and often. Come on journalists, break the mold. Give us two things to know why you should stop writing lists all the time.

  At 8:50 a.m. ET futures are slightly up and the price of oil per barrel is up. The market is poised to open slightly higher.

  I just read that the US economy actually contracted during the first quarter in a revised reading of the GDP. That is of course unwelcome news. Expect to hear all sorts of readings on this reading today. The experts will explain why it occurred etc etc. Two formal contractions in a row, recall, signifies an official recession, not that it means anything in an economy that has nothing but misery implications for Main Street. Meanwhile Wall Street is going great guns.

CNN: Stocks: 4 things to know before the open

"There is market chatter that we could get a significant downward revision to the first estimate due to revised assessments of business investment, equipment spending and construction activity..."

Revised first-quarter data show U.S. economy contracted at 1% annual rate. Revision due in June.