The Market On Friday

  Good morning. It is 65 degrees and sunny here in the Upper Hudson Valley. We are in for another exceptional summer day, enjoy it while it lasts. We see that there has been another multiple shooting, this time in a theater in Louisiana. Mass shootings are becoming a weekly and daily occurrence, the pace is picking up. I just read that the shooter was a 59 year old male drifter from Alabama. It sounds like this man was at the end of his rope and wanted out, unfortunately he needed to also create a lot of suffering for many other people. We tend to ignore the fact that someone who murders in this way, shooting or any way, is not in reasonable mental health, no exceptions. Murder is an expression of a violently confused mind.

  At 8:40 a.m. ET futures are ever so slightly higher and the price of oil is up now slightly above $48 a barrel. The market is poised to open higher.

  Looks like Amazon is set to become the world's largest retailer. I use Amazon all the time actually. Amazon has a contract with the US Postal service for deliveries and everything that I hear indicates that our postal system is doing just fine, the rumors of its demise are unfounded. Regardless, second quarter corporate results continue to filter in. It is corporate report time.

CNN: Stocks: 5 things to know before the open

If the shares hold onto those gains at the open, Amazon's market capitalization could trounce Wal-Mart's, making it the biggest retailer by value in the world.