The Market On Monday

  Good morning. It is 68 degrees and overcast here in the Upper Hudson Valley. Rain is predicted right through to Thursday, another wet week. I hope you had a good weekend. I was playing with my ensemble yesterday at a private party. I must say it was a lovely time and the food was outstanding. I do like Indian food especially when it is homemade.

  At 8:25 a.m. ET futures are moderately lower and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open lower.

  Wow, check out the settlement that tobacco is being told to pay out to the widow of a smoker that died from cancer - $23.6 billion. That is amazing, however investors deplore this sort of thing and react by tanking the stock. It's all about profits, and not about doing the right thing. Otherwise, it is world events that are shaking markets. We have an ongoing critical horrible mess in the Middle East and a downed airliner. World events have taken a strong central seat as it were, and all we are left to do it see how it all plays out but for the time being rattled is the keyword.

CNN: Stocks: 5 things to know before the open

Shares in tobacco giants Reynolds American and Philip Morris International were falling heavily premarket after a Florida jury ordered R.J. Reynolds Tobacco to pay $23.6 billion to the widow of a long-time smoker who died of lung cancer.

Investors are still worrying about the fallout from the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine.