The Market On Monday

  Good morning. It is 34 degrees and sunny here in the Upper Hudson Valley. A very sunny day with temperatures in the lower 40s is expected. I hope you had a good weekend. I've got a new thought about the upcoming election. A recent article in 538 has shed some light. Turns out there are core elite endorsements that Democratic presidential candidates receive during the campaigning process. At this point Hillary Clinton has received a whopping huge bunch of these while Bernie Sanders has gotten two. Historically the candidate who has gotten the most of these core elite endorsements from standing governors, senators, and congressional reps, goes on to get the nomination. We talk about establishment Republicans all the time and how those people are now angling to get a non-Trump, non-Carson candidate on the ticket. Well, there are in the same way establishment Democrats who hold great political power and act in the same was as their Republican counterparts. Right now Hillary Clinton is not only polling higher and has a sturdy funding chest, she is also holding a very significant elite endorsement advantage. At present the betting money is on Hillary. That does not mean that things can change because they most certainly can change and do change.

  At 9:00 a.m. ET futures are flat and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open in the flat area.

  I think it's significant that Allergan and Pfiser are on the verge of a merger which would create a massive drug company. That's a lot of financial power. We already see a steady stream of commercials advertising all kinds of drugs, so one would expect that the trend for that type of drug promotion is about to get even stronger. The merged company will have tremendous assets, the TV presence will be a very strong component of their marketing.

CNN: Stocks: 6 things to know before the open

Shares in the drug companies Allergan (AGN) and Pfizer (PFE) are both dipping by about 2% after they announced plans to come together in a deal worth around $160 billion.