The Market On Tuesday

  Good morning. It is 51 degrees and cloudy here in the Upper Hudson Valley. The forecast has the sun peaking out at some point and the temperature going up into the high 60s. Okay, Spring is here, we are starting to believe. The backyard is very slowly beginning to green up and the tree buds are looking very ripe. The winter planning for the garden is starting to move from the concept stage to the actual doing it stage. This year I will paint this old house, slowly but surely. The house pre-dates the vinyl siding era by several miles and I like painted houses.

  At 8:40 a.m. ET futures are flat and the price of oil is slightly higher. The market is poised to open in the flat area.

  Notice that light crude is creeping up in price per barrel now approaching $53. Hmm, just saying. It is quarterly report time and one suspects that heavyweight companies will beat expectations. Just watching TV gives you a sense of it all with tons of commercials for luxury cars and drugs. Somebody out there has some dough to burn.

CNN: Stocks: 4 things to know before the open

The International Monetary Fund is launching its influential "World Economic Outlook" report at 9 a.m. ET. The IMF uses this biannual report to forecast economic trends around the globe.