The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. It is 10 degrees and sunny here in the Upper Hudson Valley. It looks like the temperatures will be gradually climbing up from the sub zero mark. That 10 degrees is the warmest it's been around here in the early morning for a few days. Yesterday I had the distinct 'pleasure' of having to do clean up after some drain pipes erupted from stoppages no doubt caused by the cold. This was at an apartment complex where I perform some property management duties. The drain guy fixed the flow of the waste water and all is now well but I had the chore of cleaning up the mess. Waste water is a pleasant way of describing what it in fact is. And there you have my Wednesday afternoon. I came home and went directly to the clothes washer to throw everything in for de-mucking, then from there to a long shower. Amazingly I feel fine today. Go figure.

  At 9:00 a.m. ET futures are slightly higher and the price of oil per barrel is surprisingly higher. The market is poised to open higher.

  I am still parsing this move by the Swiss, it seems like a big deal. What I did notice in the article is that Radio Shack is planning to file for bankruptcy. Is this the end of the chain? You tell me. I do know that I have gone to Radio Shack for eons and that I will miss it if and when it goes.

CNN: Swiss currency bombshell stuns markets

The Swiss central bank removed its exchange rate ceiling of 1.2 Swiss francs to the euro, a cap introduced in 2011 during the eurozone crisis to limit the flow of cash into the traditional safe-haven economy.

The franc surged against the euro, U.S. dollar and U.K. pound on the news, despite a simultaneous announcement that key Swiss interest rates were being cut to minus 0.75%.