The Market On Monday

  Good morning. It is 17 degrees and sunny here in the Upper Hudson Valley. The forecasters are dangling a new carrot in front of the area's collective face with a prediction of temperatures around 60 degrees on Thursday. I sure hope so. After yet another ridiculously cold Winter period, a respite could be in site. Will we ever see warmth again. I hope you had a good weekend. I watched the hideously bad Knicks play on Sunday for 1 1/2 periods. The end of the season can't come soon enough. Phil Jackson's experiment in building a team based on the triangle offense is off to a pathetic start, a start that I classify as the worst imaginable possibility.

  At 8:45 a.m. ET futures are flat and the price of oil is down probably from post closing levels, now trading between $46 and $47 per barrel. That is up from last week's lows. The market is poised to open in the flat territory.

  Followers of the stock market know that last week's trading produced some record highs. This morning's activity is being regarded as a thoughtful step back as it were. The serious wrinkle in the fabric of the European Union is being looked at today with a pow wow between Greece and Germany. The implications affect the global economy. Ted Cruz? Isn't he Canadian and is the clown car big enough to carry his a massive weighty ego?

CNN: Stocks: 5 things to know before the open

Greece's new prime minister Alexis Tsipras is meeting Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday to discuss Greece's financial crisis. The results of the talks could influence market movements across Europe.